Ancestors and Descendants — Two Sides of a Coin

Genealogy research can move in two directions: backwards towards one’s ancestors (esipolvet) or forwards towards one’s descendants (jälkipolvet). These two directions are in many ways opposite to each other.

When tracing ancestors you start from one person and, with each generation, the number of direct ancestors doubles. Six generations back, a person has 64 great-great-great-great-grandparents. This means that a large proportion of the entire population of a given region at a given time in history are the direct ancestors of almost everyone alive today who descends from that region.

When tracing descendants you start from one ancestor and follow all the lines forward. A family that has lived in the same region for several generations will produce a very large number of descendants. Tracing all of them requires extensive documentation.

The difference is not merely practical. The question you ask is different depending on the direction. When asking “who were my ancestors?” you are constructing an identity from the past. When asking “who are the descendants of this particular individual?” you are mapping the spread of a family in time and space.

For Finnish research, both directions have their uses. Ancestor research is more personal and is typically how people begin. Descendant research is often carried out by family associations and results in the typical sukukirja (family history book), which maps all lines forward from a known early ancestor.

A well-rounded genealogical study ideally covers both. The ancestors provide the deep historical context; the descendants show how the family spread across the country and, in recent centuries, beyond Finland’s borders.