What is the difference between maternal and paternal?

When tracing your family history online, both your maternal and paternal sides are equally important. With name changes and the erasure of women’s stories, many women’s contributions have been tragically lost to history. To gain a thorough understanding of your ancestors and their lives, you’ll need to delve into both sides of your family tree. By researching women’s stories on both sides of your tree, you’ll preserve their legacy for future generations.

To help focus your research, you may want to start by delving into either your maternal or paternal side first. Which is easier to trace depends on how much you know about your relatives, and which side of your family has better documented its history.

If you know the names and birthdates of your great-grandparents on your mothers’ side but only know details about one of your paternal grandparents, building the maternal line is a good place to start.

Because surnames are traditionally passed down by men to their children, paternal lines can be easier to trace with family history records.

While women’s changing surnames can complicate researching your mother’s side, you can still make fascinating discoveries using some key family history records.

These include: 

• Marriage records. You’ll often find a woman’s maiden name listed. 
• Birth and baptism records, which may feature both parents’ full names. 
• Censuses, to reveal what a household looked like at a particular moment in time.

Your paternal line may be easier to trace, as an enduring surname can act as a common thread through the generations. You can use the general principles of family history research to dig into your fathers’ side.

Search relevant online record sets to learn more information about your ancestors – the milestones of their lives, as well as the ups and downs of their everyday experiences. From the homes they lived in to their occupations and hobbies, there’s a variety of key details you can uncover on both your maternal and paternal lines.

When tracing both the maternal and paternal sides of your family, it can become tricky to keep track of who’s who. To avoid confusing your maternal second cousin for your paternal cousin-once-removed, be sure to store your discoveries within a family tree using a genealogy website.

Start your online family tree by adding information about yourself (your name, birthplace and date of birth), then add the same information for your parents. Add everything you know about your grandparents on both sides, and from there, you’ll build your tree back through the generations.

Whether you’ve got more detail on your maternal or paternal line, both play a valuable role within your family tree. Mapped out on both sides of your tree are countless ancestors, whose lives in years gone by shaped the evolution of your family, culminating with you.