FAN club analysis is one of the most valuable tools at a genealogists disposal. Conventionally it is used to build a network of people around a single ancestor or family, however the process can be reversed to determine the nature of unknown relationships. The Hub analysis is a method that I came up with that helps break a large group of people into small social circles that are centered around something that they all have in common. For example, this could be a place of employment, worship, or even a club/hobby. By grouping the people in this way we can identify what subgroups exists within the FAN club (I wrote a post
here on how these subgroups can be visually represented used a net diagram).
The easiest way to explain the process is by using an example. Lets take a look at a list of names that I found of people who called the family following my great grandfather's death.
**Please note that for privacy reasons I have redacted the full surname and addresses of any person mentioned in this example as some of them are still living.**
Step #1: Make a list of the names
I like to make my list in a sortable table in Excel, but any similar program (or even pen and paper) will work too!
When I created my table I chose to add a page and line number associated with each name so that I could easily find it in the original document (list of people who called after a death) if required. This also helped me to focus on the people who called first as they were likely the closest to the family.
In the above table, the right-most column is where I made my notes. I cropped this column out because it had full addresses and other personal (BMD) information. To the right of that column I inserted the links to my references (such as BMD records, and newspaper articles).
Step #2: Identify any relevant information and record it in the notes column
If your initial list of names contains addresses or you already know a persons relation, make a note of it in the notes column. I started by going through my list and identifying family members as well as any other name that I recognized.
Step #3: Create a colour scheme
This step is optional, however I found that it was a good visual aid to help me identify my hubs later on. I used the following colours:
Purple - Family (I used different shades for parent/child relationship vs other familial relationships)
L. Green - Neighbours
D. Green - Coworkers (NOTE: you could further sib-divide this based on employer)
Blue - Friends
Yellow - Child's friend (NOTE: you could further sib-divide this by child)
Orange - Church/associate
Some of the colours can be seen in the picture contained within Step #1.
Step #4: Start searching
There were several resources that I used to conduct my research. They were geographically relevant to the city (Toronto) I was researching in so they wont be universally applicable.
For the city directories I decided to first look for everyone in the directories that were within +/- 2 years of when my ancestor died. (It should be noted that, due to their volume of information, directories were often 1 to 2 years out of date by the time they were actually published). If I was unable to make a direct connection (either by their address or employment), I consulted other resources before returning and going year by year. If I found multiple matches for a name and couldnt identify which one I was looking for, I would place the number of matches in brackets within the notes section. You can see this on several of the lines in the above screenshot. This serves as a reminder to me that I need to look for this person in other sources to try and narrow down the potential number of matches.
To establish co-worker relationships I recommend covering the entire span of your ancestor's working years. In this case, I chose to begin my search at the year that my great grandfather first appeared in the city directory, and end it two years after his death. If you are interested in learning more about how to get the most out of the city directories, you can learn more
here.
If your forced to work with a first initial, there are several strategies that you can use. The first is look up the last name in a directory and see how many viable options there are. If the surname is uncommon, you likely will only have one or two viable results. For more common names, try looking up your ancestor's place of employment (either in a directory or on Google). City directories often list the names of who owns a small business, or in the case of large companies they provide the names of the president and vice-presidents.
I recorded my rough notes in a notebook, then put the summarized info in the notes section and assigned a relationship. I recommend keeping a 'thinking space' for each person to ensure that you collect enough information to definitively identify you have the right person. Often times I fill this space with notes from my various sources, identify potential connections to other people in the list, and sometimes record theories and/or specific research questions.
Step #5: Make a list of the 'Hubs' that you want to focus on
Review the types of relationships that you recorded and the places that are frequently mentioned in your notes. Choose a few places. The exact number should be dependant on the number of people in your list and how diverse your ancestor's life was. Be sure to note the years that your ancestor and/or their family was associated with each place. Even if you dont know the exact year, an educated guess will help you construct the timeline.
In my case, I chose two places of employment, a church, and the Foreman's Association. My great grandfather only worked for two companies in his life, and for the last decade of his life he was a foreman for a sporting goods company. The family belonged to the same church since he got married, and all six of his children attended the attached school. Since originally posting this, I have added two additional hubs: one for each him and his wife's friends. Had I wanted to, I also could have constructed neighbourhood hubs for each of his former residences. I chose not to add this hub because almost all of their neighbours attended the same church or had children that went to the same school; thus I would have been producing redundant information.
Step #6: Divide the people into the hubs
When you place the people in these hubs its important to note the time that they were there. Make sure that this there is an overlap in time with your ancestor. For the places of employment I made sure to note the position and the associated years. If someone changed positions, I made sure to reflect this.
The added benefit of using a sortable table is that you can filter for a specific relationship or cell colour when filling in the hubs. This saves on time and helps ensure that you dont miss anybody.
Interested in learning more about FAN Club research?
Revision Date: February 12 2024
Originally Posted: December 12 2021
Comments
Post a Comment