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Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America
In eighteenth-century America, genealogy was more than a simple record of family ties--it was a powerful force that shaped society. Lineage delves into an era where individuals, families, and institutions meticulously documented their connections. Whether driven by personal passion or mandated by churches, local governments, and courts, these records appeared in diverse forms-from handwritten notes and account books to intricate silk threads and enduring stone carvings.
Family connections wielded significant influence across governmental, legal, religious, cultural, and social spheres. In the American context, these ties also defined the boundaries of slavery and freedom, with a child's status often determined by their mother, despite the prevailing patriarchy. This book reveals the profound importance of genealogy that was chronicled by family records, cultural artifacts, and court documents. These materials, created by both enslaved individuals seeking freedom and founding fathers seeking status, demonstrate the culturally and historically specific nature of genealogical interest.
Even as the American Revolution transformed society, the significance of genealogy endured. The legacy of lineage from the colonial period continued to shape the early United States, underscoring the enduring importance of family connections. Lineage offers a deep understanding of genealogy as a foundational element of American history, illuminating its vital role from the colonial era through the birth of the nation.
Family connections wielded significant influence across governmental, legal, religious, cultural, and social spheres. In the American context, these ties also defined the boundaries of slavery and freedom, with a child's status often determined by their mother, despite the prevailing patriarchy. This book reveals the profound importance of genealogy that was chronicled by family records, cultural artifacts, and court documents. These materials, created by both enslaved individuals seeking freedom and founding fathers seeking status, demonstrate the culturally and historically specific nature of genealogical interest.
Even as the American Revolution transformed society, the significance of genealogy endured. The legacy of lineage from the colonial period continued to shape the early United States, underscoring the enduring importance of family connections. Lineage offers a deep understanding of genealogy as a foundational element of American history, illuminating its vital role from the colonial era through the birth of the nation.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
376 pages, Hardcover
Published July 2, 2025
15 people are currently reading
133 people want to read
About the author
Karin Wulf
6 books8 followersI'm a historian of early America, specifically of family and politics, the director of a rare books library, the John Carter Brown Library, and a history professor at Brown University. I love to read and write about history, libraries and archives. I can't think of many things I love more than reading in general and I'm always looking for more time to read! I'm usually reading several non-fiction and fiction books at once. I also keep extensive (analog!) reading journals, which are a conversation with myself about what kind of thinking my reading is prompting.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 24, 2025
I've been a professional genealogist for more than 25 years, but never truly appreciated how integral genealogy has been in the shaping of America. Using copious examples - entertaining and sometimes startling - unearthed from countless sources, Karin Wulf methodically builds an eye-opening case. After reading "Lineage," you will never look at genealogy - or our history - the same way.
October 24, 2025
To a lot of people, genealogy is a vain or inconsequential pursuit. This book reframes the importance of genealogy by revealing its history as a set of tools wielded in early America.
August 21, 2025
I've thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Karin Wulf’s new book Lineage: Genealogy and the Power of Connection in Early America. It paints a comprehensive picture of the concept of “genealogy” in British America, focused on the colonial era and early statehood period, but tying things to the 19th and 20th centuries and our current understanding and uses of genealogy.
The big themes are 1) the divide between and intersections of private and public genealogy, and 2) the wielding of genealogy as political, economic, and social power. It defines “genealogy” as *any* use of family relationships in *any* way, which goes way beyond the colloquial view of genealogy as a hobby and centers it as a core tool of cultural cohesion.
Wulf also gave me a new term to consider. In the introduction, she refers to the masses of personal data collected about people historically as “ambient genealogy.” It’s the data collected about people who didn't necessarily choose to have it collected (births, marriages, baptisms, etc.) and who may or may not have cared one way or the other about their own genealogy. Most of them have no descendants or no one interested in connecting them to the larger human family tree. It resonated with me because the ambient genealogy data is most often where I find interesting individuals and families to document.
At the end, she brings the colonial examples from the core of the book forward to the 19th century religious, institutional/cultural, and government uses of genealogy by the LDS church, lineage/genealogical societies, and the Dawes Act (that forced Native Americans to give up collective land control and submit to private land ownership).
Modern genealogical scholars—in particular Elizabeth Shown Mills—have long expressed disappointment (to use a tactful word) in the dismissal of genealogy by academic historians. To me, this is the most exciting result of Wulf’s work, in which she builds a structure of academic rigor around the practice of genealogy in all facets of American life. It opens the door for those of us coming at history from the genealogical perspective to recognize the private/public aspects of genealogy in our ancestors’ lives and the ways recorded genealogy was used by, for, or against them in a power dynamic between individuals or within systems.
I knew I would enjoy this book, but I didn’t expect it to inspire me to better recognize the deeper historical meaning in the sources I use and events they document.
The big themes are 1) the divide between and intersections of private and public genealogy, and 2) the wielding of genealogy as political, economic, and social power. It defines “genealogy” as *any* use of family relationships in *any* way, which goes way beyond the colloquial view of genealogy as a hobby and centers it as a core tool of cultural cohesion.
Wulf also gave me a new term to consider. In the introduction, she refers to the masses of personal data collected about people historically as “ambient genealogy.” It’s the data collected about people who didn't necessarily choose to have it collected (births, marriages, baptisms, etc.) and who may or may not have cared one way or the other about their own genealogy. Most of them have no descendants or no one interested in connecting them to the larger human family tree. It resonated with me because the ambient genealogy data is most often where I find interesting individuals and families to document.
At the end, she brings the colonial examples from the core of the book forward to the 19th century religious, institutional/cultural, and government uses of genealogy by the LDS church, lineage/genealogical societies, and the Dawes Act (that forced Native Americans to give up collective land control and submit to private land ownership).
Modern genealogical scholars—in particular Elizabeth Shown Mills—have long expressed disappointment (to use a tactful word) in the dismissal of genealogy by academic historians. To me, this is the most exciting result of Wulf’s work, in which she builds a structure of academic rigor around the practice of genealogy in all facets of American life. It opens the door for those of us coming at history from the genealogical perspective to recognize the private/public aspects of genealogy in our ancestors’ lives and the ways recorded genealogy was used by, for, or against them in a power dynamic between individuals or within systems.
I knew I would enjoy this book, but I didn’t expect it to inspire me to better recognize the deeper historical meaning in the sources I use and events they document.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews