Genealogy and Historic Demography

Genealogy, which is understood here as a set of technics used with the purpose of stating the relatives of the initial line of the given person, could render a great service to historic demography. Allowing to investigate families' histories in their unbroken succession it could simultaneously permit to answer important questions of biological (f. ex. is longevity hereditary?), social (f. ex. successive transition from townspeople to nobility), or demographic nature (f. ex. what are the processes of leaving country and going to towns?). Initial genealogies, that exist at present, possess important hardships, which make them not enough usable: they are not representative, often very incomplete, and chronologically unbalanced. Some of these weaknesses can be coped with when critical methods of historic demography used. The most important thing would be completing the tables of initial genealogy by preparation of family cards, on which all demographic phenomena would be written relating to re-constituted marriages. In conclusion the author recommends a numeration system called the Soza-Stradonitz system. He gives practical advice on research organization, and adducing notarial records in particular, what seems indispensable for the author from the point of view of genealogy's contribution to the true social history.Digitalizacja i deponowanie archiwalnych zeszytów RPEiS sfinansowane przez MNiSW w ramach realizacji umowy nr 541/P-DUN/201