Another new Rule of Genealogy for 2025: Rule #17

Rule #17 of the Rules of Genealogy 

Where life happened, records remain

 While I was working on a video for the BYU Library Family History Center, I ran across this generated image which was summarizing my text prompt and one of the slides I was working onl I liked the images and realized that the caption was an interesting short statement of my much longer slide information. So, I decided to adopt it as a way to express a general Rule of Genealogy. The longer statement is as follows:

Genealogical research depend on valuable genealogical records that were recorded by someone who witnessed the event or had a duty to report it and at or near the places where events occurred in your ancestors' lives. Generally, all genealogical records are tied to the location where the events occurred and the records were created. So to use the shorter statement: "Where life happens, records remain."

There may be an apparent small conflict with Rule Six: Records Move, but the two rules actually address two different issues about the same records. Once a record is created, it may physically be stored at a place that is remote from the place of origin but the record is almost certain to be indexed, stored, and organized with reference to the location where the records were created. This new rule, "Where life happens, records remain" addressed the connection between where the events occurred and the creation of the record. Therefore, all records of a person's life are existentially related to the life of the person who is subjectively related. 

It is fairly common for genealogists to forget the surrounding circustances of the record's creation when researching various types of genealogically valuable records. What was happening at the time the record was created may have determined whether the record was made in the first instance or determined where and when the record was preserved. 

A good example of this rule concerns a variety of records in Latin America held by FamilySearch.org but not available to search or restricted for a variety of reasons. I have written about this before. See The FamilySearch Double Bind. The more I think about this new Rule of Genealogy, the more impact I can see on the way people do genealogical research and they way they record the records they find and use the records they find. Genealogists break the new rule when they keep looking over and over for records for the same person without finding any records or very few records. These repetitious searches violate both the new rule #17, and the older rule #6. Over time, as I contemplate the ramifications of this new rule, I believe that the new rule will move up in importance. The connection between life events and the records that become part of the fundamental issues of genealogical research. 

Here is a list of the previous rules for your convenience.

Rule One: When the baby was born, the mother was there.

Rule Two: Absence of an obituary or death record does not mean the person is still alive.

Rule Three: Every person who ever lived has a unique birth order and a unique set of biological parents.

Rule Four: There are always more records.

Rule Five: You cannot get blood out of a turnip.

Rule Six: Records move.

Rule Seven: Water and genealogical information flow downhill.

Rule Eight: Everything in genealogy is connected (butterfly).

Rule Nine: There are patterns everywhere.

Rule Ten: Read the fine print.

Rule Eleven: Even a perfect fit can be wrong.

Rule Twelve: The end is always there.

Rule Thirteen: Genealogists abhor a blank field.

Rule Fourteen: You are not responsible for what you find.

Rule Fifteen: A fact is not a fact unless you have a record to prove it. 

Rule Sixteen: Gravity always wins