A Family, for the purposes of genealogy and historically strictly speaking, is defined by the marriage of a husband and wife who then procreate to create offspring that they care for and raise to maturity. It is tightly tied to biological reproduction and religious tradition. This strict definition is often more formally referred to as a Nuclear Family. This definition is a historical, legal, religious and traditional one that genealogy tools try to capture to link individuals.
Now, before we get hate mail and start major flame wars, we again simply document how it has been treated for centuries and thus what a genealogist is trying to understand and document through records describing the relationships of various individuals. It is through families that people are stitched together into "trees" and relation threads through time.
Going forward, we more strictly term this nuclear family the biological family; whether it matches the perceived nuclear family or not. And, if anything, introduce the term primary family for what has traditionally been a family unit as known and defined by the individuals at that time.
A child should only ever be in one nuclear family. As they only ever have two biological parents. A parent will always be in two nuclear families and possibly more. A child in one and a parent in one or more other ones. Depending on how many partners and possibly children with each they have.
A Household is simply a collection of people living together in the same residential dwelling as a unit. Often it is a nuclear family but may include others as well. Possibly two or more nuclear families if multi-generational or due to remarriage of a parent.
Legal methods have been developed over time to define an immediate family that then provides for non-biological ways of expanding on this more strict definition of a nuclear family. Most often through (legal) adoption.
Genealogical tools tend to only capture nuclear families and not households or immediate families. This is important to remember as what you can capture and show may not be how the records and family members remember and treat the situation. A census will often show others in the household who may even be related but not part of the defined nuclear family.
In more modern times, (formal) adoption is usually the main way to add a child in an immediate family that was not born into it by the parents that define the nuclear family. See the siblings page for more information on the various types and flavors of children in a family. Even more recently we have the issue of egg and sperm donation which muddies the water of how to define a family that was traditionally defined around biological procreation.
Siblings in a household may or may not be formally recognized as related. This is independent of whether the siblings understood it at the time. Siblings or their descendants may have only ever known they were part of what they thought was a nuclear family; only to discover later they are not biologically related as expected. Or they may have been told but, as they grew up together since being young children, only ever feel they are full siblings. Strictly speaking, and as genealogical tools often will only capture, this may have to be defined as multiple nuclear families if the children are not sharing both the same biological parents.
More lenient genealogical tools will allow for the documenting of non-traditional families as if they were a Nuclear Family. This even if the laws, customs and legal rights of the time did not recognize it. Remarriages of a parent, after one parent dies, when there are young children in the household is likely the most common example. Sometimes the children even took on the step-father's name without any formal paper work or process. Especially if they were very young and before realizing there is anything other than a biological nuclear family. Other examples may be orphaned children after both parents die and a neighbor takes them in (sometimes causing the childs' surname to be changed through simple use and not in any formal way). Clearly, same-sex parents is an example of modern and older times as this has existed, albeit if rare and not publicized, for generations.
With the availability of consumer DNA testing and its introduction into genealogy, it has become even more important to clearly document and distinguish the various flavors of family. Whether known to exist or not. When DNA points to a biological parentage different than what has been documented and accepted in the family, then genealogists refer to this as a Non-Parental Event (or NPE for short). This difference is documented while the work to explain the discrepancy is resolved and the understanding of what is the new unexplained facts are accepted. It then has to be decided in each case later on how to present and define a primary family relationship versus other secondary ones. In cases of known adoption, it is likely clear that the adopted family becomes the primary. But when the NPE cannot be explained and documented, maybe the believed traditional and known family relationship (which often is not the biological one then) needs to be retained as primary. Not all tools will allow documenting multiple nuclear families for an individual. So notes and stories may have to be attached to explain.
To summarize, let's define the different types of families described here:
Now, before we get hate mail and start major flame wars, we again simply document how it has been treated for centuries and thus what a genealogist is trying to understand and document through records describing the relationships of various individuals. It is through families that people are stitched together into "trees" and relation threads through time.
Going forward, we more strictly term this nuclear family the biological family; whether it matches the perceived nuclear family or not. And, if anything, introduce the term primary family for what has traditionally been a family unit as known and defined by the individuals at that time.
A child should only ever be in one nuclear family. As they only ever have two biological parents. A parent will always be in two nuclear families and possibly more. A child in one and a parent in one or more other ones. Depending on how many partners and possibly children with each they have.
A Household is simply a collection of people living together in the same residential dwelling as a unit. Often it is a nuclear family but may include others as well. Possibly two or more nuclear families if multi-generational or due to remarriage of a parent.
Legal methods have been developed over time to define an immediate family that then provides for non-biological ways of expanding on this more strict definition of a nuclear family. Most often through (legal) adoption.
Genealogical tools tend to only capture nuclear families and not households or immediate families. This is important to remember as what you can capture and show may not be how the records and family members remember and treat the situation. A census will often show others in the household who may even be related but not part of the defined nuclear family.
In more modern times, (formal) adoption is usually the main way to add a child in an immediate family that was not born into it by the parents that define the nuclear family. See the siblings page for more information on the various types and flavors of children in a family. Even more recently we have the issue of egg and sperm donation which muddies the water of how to define a family that was traditionally defined around biological procreation.
Siblings in a household may or may not be formally recognized as related. This is independent of whether the siblings understood it at the time. Siblings or their descendants may have only ever known they were part of what they thought was a nuclear family; only to discover later they are not biologically related as expected. Or they may have been told but, as they grew up together since being young children, only ever feel they are full siblings. Strictly speaking, and as genealogical tools often will only capture, this may have to be defined as multiple nuclear families if the children are not sharing both the same biological parents.
More lenient genealogical tools will allow for the documenting of non-traditional families as if they were a Nuclear Family. This even if the laws, customs and legal rights of the time did not recognize it. Remarriages of a parent, after one parent dies, when there are young children in the household is likely the most common example. Sometimes the children even took on the step-father's name without any formal paper work or process. Especially if they were very young and before realizing there is anything other than a biological nuclear family. Other examples may be orphaned children after both parents die and a neighbor takes them in (sometimes causing the childs' surname to be changed through simple use and not in any formal way). Clearly, same-sex parents is an example of modern and older times as this has existed, albeit if rare and not publicized, for generations.
With the availability of consumer DNA testing and its introduction into genealogy, it has become even more important to clearly document and distinguish the various flavors of family. Whether known to exist or not. When DNA points to a biological parentage different than what has been documented and accepted in the family, then genealogists refer to this as a Non-Parental Event (or NPE for short). This difference is documented while the work to explain the discrepancy is resolved and the understanding of what is the new unexplained facts are accepted. It then has to be decided in each case later on how to present and define a primary family relationship versus other secondary ones. In cases of known adoption, it is likely clear that the adopted family becomes the primary. But when the NPE cannot be explained and documented, maybe the believed traditional and known family relationship (which often is not the biological one then) needs to be retained as primary. Not all tools will allow documenting multiple nuclear families for an individual. So notes and stories may have to be attached to explain.
To summarize, let's define the different types of families described here:
| Family Type | Source |
| Nuclear | The traditional definition of a married couple and their offspring |
| Biological | The new term to cover what was the traditional nuclear when in its strictest form |
| Immediate | The legal term to incorporate the variances that include adoption and other mechanisms of family inclusion into what is more like a nuclear family |
| NPE | A genealogical family relationship created through contradicting records; often caused by biological DNA testing contradicting traditional records. Creating a different biological and nuclear family (or splitting a previous single one) |
| Primary | The method in a genealogical tool to designate a single, primary family (often biological if no option given) |
| Secondary | The method in a genealogical tool to designate alternate families to the primary for the same immediate relationship to an individual |