Essays on family history

Genealogies reduce the lives of family members to names and dates, but families themselves also have lives, the subject of family history. Family history starts with the adoption of a surname and, if the family long survives in the male line, it will inevitably reflect the radical social changes of recent centuries, especially increasing mobility, urbanization and distribution of wealth. However, the ultimate fate of the great majority of patrilineal families is extinction, with a consequent loss of surnames—a loss more than compensated by new surnames contributed by immigrants and foundlings.