Defining Family

While doing research into your family history you will run across lines that are confusing. There will be families who raise children who aren't theirs, but they didn't adopt them either. It is up to you as the research what you should do with this information. Should you include it into your genealogy or should you ignore, after all the person isn't related. It is up to your discretion.

Personally I normally include these people into my history because they are part of that family. They are part of the dynamic that help create the characteristics of how that family works, what they stand for and the opinions they had. When you introduce people into your family whether they are related or not they become part of the whole. They will influence decisions by offering their opinions or by their actions. If you add them into your history then you are helping to create the whole picture of the research. They will normally also help you to find additional information. They had to be brought into the family somehow and if you follow their link you might find the missing piece of information you were looking for.

How you handle your history is completely up to you. You can add people even if they aren't related, but if they aren't make sure you flag that in the history so future generations don't get confused. You can leave people out, do you have that one family member that hurt you completely, you have wipe them out of your family, you don't talk to them and no one mentions them to you. Then you have to decide if you are going to provide an actual account of your history or if you are going to swing it to your discretion, if you want to wipe that person completely out of the history books. It is up to you.

Thanks everyone and happy hunting
Patti