Another Step Deeper Into the Family Tree

A few days ago, I wrote about returning to genealogy after a break of almost ten years. Since then, the tree has already started growing again — not simply by adding names, but by finding documents, correcting assumptions, contacting archives and municipalities, and gradually turning names into people with histories.

The image above shows where my own ancestry stands today, with me as the focal point and the branches expanding backwards through the generations.

Looking at a family tree this way is quite different from looking at a simple list of names and dates. You begin to see its shape.

And, perhaps more importantly, you immediately see the gaps.

The German side is taking shape

My paternal side is predominantly German, and this is currently the more developed part of the tree.

Several branches now reach well into the 18th century, with families such as Berendsen, Erichsen, Nissen, Brömel, Götz, Jacobsen and Hänsel appearing across Schleswig-Holstein and neighbouring areas.

There is still a great deal to verify and document properly. A name copied from somebody else's family tree is not enough for me. Wherever possible, I want the underlying evidence: birth and baptism records, marriages, death records, addresses, occupations, photographs, military records, property documents and anything else that helps establish not merely who somebody was, but something about the life that person actually lived.

That is one reason why returning to genealogy while living in Europe makes this project considerably more interesting than it was before.

These places are no longer just distant names on old records. Some of them are places I can actually visit.

And then there is Italy...

The imbalance in the chart is also rather obvious.

My Italian side still needs considerably more work.

Through my mother, Lorenza Sandra Teresa Dotta, the tree reaches families including Dotta, Ravera and Pochetto, with connections to Piemonte and Liguria before later generations established themselves in Brazil.

I have already had some encouraging results from Italy. Municipal authorities have responded to my requests and provided records concerning my mother and her parents. That alone has helped confirm information and opened new directions for research.

But compared with the German side, this branch of the tree is still very much under construction.

There are fewer generations visible, more unanswered questions, and many records still to locate.

In a strange way, that makes it one of the most interesting parts of the project.

From Italy and Germany to Brazil — and back to Europe

There is another aspect of this chart that I find fascinating.

My ancestors left Europe. Different branches eventually became part of a family history in Brazil, where I was born and where much of my own life took place.

Now I am living in Europe again and researching the people who left here generations ago.

That creates the possibility of doing something I could not easily do when I first started building this tree: go to the places themselves.

Instead of seeing the name of a German village or an Italian comune only in a database, I may be able to drive there.

I can visit churches, cemeteries, archives and municipal offices. I can photograph places connected with the family. Perhaps I can find houses, streets or properties mentioned in historical documents. And, with some luck, I may discover records that have never been digitised.

For the Italian branch in particular, I think this will become an important part of the next phase.

A tree is never really finished

The more I work on genealogy, the less I think of a family tree as something that can simply be "completed."

Every answer produces another question.

A birth certificate identifies parents. Their marriage record may identify another generation. A death record can reveal a birthplace. An old photograph may contain a handwritten year. A property document can establish where somebody was living at a particular moment. Sometimes one small piece of information suddenly connects several things that previously seemed unrelated.

And sometimes the records disagree.

That is when genealogy becomes less like data entry and more like investigation.

This chart is therefore not a finished family tree. It is a snapshot of the research at this particular moment.

There are branches I trust reasonably well, branches that still require documentary confirmation, and branches — particularly on my Italian side — where there is a lot more digging to do.

But that is precisely the enjoyable part.

Ten years after putting this project largely aside, I am discovering the family again — one person, one document and one generation at a time.

And this image is another checkpoint along the way.

AI Assistance Disclosure: This article is based on my original ideas, experience, analysis and conclusions. Artificial intelligence tools were subsequently used as editorial and research assistants to review grammar and wording, improve structure and presentation, organise some arguments into clearer logical sections, and help review references to legal, regulatory and technical concepts.

Where relevant, factual and regulatory references were checked against the sources cited in the article. AI assistance does not replace professional legal, regulatory, financial or technical advice, and the final selection, interpretation, opinions and conclusions presented here remain my own.