Rooters trace their family trees for a variety of reasons. Most are curious about who they are and where they came from. Some desire to join a lineage society. Others seek answers of a more serious nature. They need to know whether cancer, heart disease or genetic diseases run in their families.
It's probably a good idea for each of us to know something about our ancestral medical history. If several of your ancestors died young of heart disease, suffered strokes, or had diabetes, cancer or a genetic disease, you could also be at risk.
In his new book, Unlocking Your Genetic History, Dr. Thomas Shawker cites the case of comedian Gilda Radner, who died of ovarian cancer at age 42, as an example of how genetics can dictate future health problems. "Had the genetic and familial link of ovarian cancer been more widely known, had the significance of her family's medical pedigree been understood, and had the relevance of her ethnic heritage been recognized, she would have known that having an aunt, a grandmother and a cousin who died from ovarian cancer and a mother who had breast cancer was extraordinarily significant to her own health."
Thanks to advances in science and medicine, such as DNA testing, it's easier than ever to predict the future by looking at the past. But to get complete pictures, you must research collateral relatives as well as your direct line.
"Just as tracking the migration of a great-great-uncle might show you the location of your great-great-grandfather, so too might finding out the health history of a second cousin apply to your own health," Shawker says. He recommends obtaining the medical records of all your relatives dating back at least to your great-grandparents.
Billed as a "Step-by-Step Guide to Discovering Your Family's Medical and Genetic Heritage," Shawker's book offers tips on what to search for when compiling your medical history, how to obtain and record medical information and techniques for interviewing relatives. A useful medical history form is included in the book.
Death certificates are the best documents for learning a person's cause of death. No matter where the person was living or where he or she was buried, you'll find the death certificate in the state where the death occurred.
Records are sparse before 1900. From about the late 1800s until around 1905, death records were filed in county courthouses. These remain county records unless they have been shipped to the state archives.
By 1905, state governments took over the task of maintaining birth and death records. Death records filed after that time will generally be at the state's department of vital statistics, although older ones may be at the state's archives. See www.vitalrec.com.
Laws on obtaining death certificates and medical information vary from state to state.
You can get fairly recent death certificates in some states; others won't release them for 50 years. Some states will give you the certificate but omit the cause of death. Death records may also be restricted to the immediate family.
Can't get a death certificate? Funeral home records are the next best thing. Cemetery records, obituaries and military records are other potential sources. (Federal laws govern the release of military records and are different from state laws.)
Much of Shawker's prose is easy for novices to understand. Chapters on genetics and genetic diseases, the impact of ethnicity on one's health, DNA testing and starting your own Y chromosome project as part of a surname society are highly technical and will probably appeal only to those with a substantial scientific background.
Unlocking Your Genetic History, published by Rutledge Hill Press, can be purchased for $19.99 at bookstores or online at www.rutledgehillpress.com
-- Read past Donna Murray Allen columns online at www.sptimes.com Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box. You can write to Allen c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@yahoo.com Her Web site, www.rootsdetective.com includes information on classes and lectures. Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns.
