The Alzheimer's Digest: Family Tree Research

Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Biggest Mistake of Online Ancestor Hunting

When you find a mention of your family tree online it's thrilling. Especially if the site lists long sought-after dates, more names, and stories about your ancestors. Who doesn't like knowing the details of a Civil War soldier, a Revolutionary-era patriot, or a wild west frontiersman?

Unfortunately, though, the information you find online can be correct, almost correct, or totally false - - and you have no way of knowing which is which. That's because most online sites don't include documentation on their web pages.

Genealogy is a fascinating hobby that requires the skills of a detective and the scientific techniques of a forensic analyst. It's all about proving the connection from one generation to the next. You can guess about the connection, but until proven they remain guesses (albeit it good guesses).
So, how do you avoid falling into the "no source materials" online trap?

If a website has information about your family but no sources, you can either
1. Contact the site owner and ask about sources
2. Use the site info as a springboard for your own research.

If you've very lucky, the site owner will have sources for the information posted on the site. If not, you can still use the information in your own search. Here's an example:

If the site says your great-great-grandfather served in the Civil War, but there's no proof, you can begin searching Civil War records yourself. If you have the state where he was born, begin looking in Civil War records associated with that state. If you don't, use a site like the Soldiers and Sailors system (see resource below), enter the soldiers name and begin the search. If he was in the Civil War, you should find his records here.

Another example. Let's say the website has marriage information for an ancestor. Where can you go to prove it? Begin with where the ancestor lived and start your search in state archives, state websites, or sites like FamilySearch.org. It's possible you'll find exactly what you're looking for at an official site, or you may have to write or call a courthouse in the county where the ancestor lived.

The bottom line, here, is to use whatever information you find as a foundation and begin building on it with proof. Otherwise, you'll just copy down the same information everyone else has copied, and before long no one will know what's really true.

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Thursday, January 30, 2014

How to Conduct Family Tree Research

Those of you who have been busy collecting data for your family tree will probably have assembled by now a great variety of documents, memorabilia and artefacts that throw light upon and add real interest to your emerging family tree research.

But when it comes to putting all this material into some kind of meaningful order, there are some basic considerations to take note of. On the one hand you may be content to compile an informal family scrapbook and associated family tree charts and diagrams, without applying the full science of genealogy.

On the other hand you may wish to be much more formal and thorough and plan to produce a full-blown family chronicle. This will contain the charts and diagrams of the branches of your tree, but will also include well-researched mini biographies of key people on your tree, together with notes of where they lived, and the social conditions of their time. This procedure will provide a much more rounded presentation and stand up to the scrutiny of detail.

To achieve this higher standard and with it also a greater level of satisfaction it will be essential to make a clear distinction between two types of source. There are Primary sources and there are Secondary sources. The most important Primary sources are certificates of Birth, Marriage and Death. Probably the more recently issued certificates will already be in your possession, while the earlier ones may have to be searched and paid for. Then the evidence from the Census returns will often prove invaluable too.

Secondary sources are often a valuable source of information, but in the very nature of things they are less reliable. My Australian uncle was a surgeon captured by the Japanese in China. We have a few of his original letters, which are primary sources, but most of the information about him comes from memories relayed by his daughters in their more recent biographical statements; they were quite young at the time. Their diaries, although close to the events surrounding his capture, internment and eventual release are still secondary sources.

More recently we have witnessed the calamitous impact of the tsunami on the people living on the North East coast of Japan. Anyone who experienced the trauma or witnessed the devastation was a primary source. Even those who witnessed the event on TV, and can express what they felt at the time are considered to be primary sources.

Secondary sources would be accounts written up after the event, TV documentaries, and any articles or books issued later. All these accounts would offer valuable information, often graphically and compellingly presented, but they would still be secondary sources none the less. Historians often have to start with secondary sources, and then dig around for the primary sources behind them. Happy searching!