Basic Genealogy - Some "Good Practice" Hints
A collection of many things I've found valuable for my research.
- Start from what you personally know.
Work backward in time.
It is futile to start with the family legend and try to prove it.
Example: Lots of people think they are related to some famous
person.
In my case it was the Adams Presidents
After many wasted years - learned I am related to a John Quincy Adams, but
not the John Quincy Adams. Just as grandmother said, "She was a
second cousin of John Quincy Adams, once removed."
- Don't throw anything away!
Even something with no names may be valuable.
Example: Postmark on unsigned postcard maybe a clue to where family was located.
- Goal is to understand each person both in time and
place.
Just Name, birth date, death date leaves possibility for
confusion.
Quite often many different birth dates are around for the same person
A corollary of this is that a place name or location lets you focus the search.
From another researcher - "[Those] successful in their
genealogical research will
quickly advise that the most important piece of information needed to trace
ancestors is a place name (village of origin, birth or last residence.) I
venture to say that it's actually even more important than the immigrant's
surname! Why? Because the valuable information you seek is usually
organized, indexed and stored and indexed geographically: country, county,
region, village, town, city name. The same surname can show up in other
villages and be entirely unrelated, costing months of lost research time."
- Have a simple, understandable filing system. And use it.
Need one for hard copy and another computer based system for
digital records.
- Pay attention to collateral lines.
"Collateral", descended from same ancestor, ie. cousins.
Distant cousins may have the key to solving your problem.
Often have to find most of the siblings to figure out who the
parents are.
- Ignore those selling family data, especially family crests.
Most commercial ventures know nothing about your immediate
family
They usually recycle information from public sources like
phonebooks
- Don't ignore the in-laws.
I always try to locate each ancestor's siblings and spouses.
Someone researching Uncle Charlie's wife may know more about your
Uncle Charlie than you do.
- Jurisdictional changes influence where a record may be located.
Particularly true if ancestor was in area which later was spun off
into a new county or state, etc.
Example: Many early Broome county records might be at the Tioga
County courthouse, as Broome was formed from an earlier, larger Tioga county.
- Suspect all names and dates not backed up with cited sources.
Citing other researchers does not get to the original source of the information.
Use other's research as a research guide, but not as the final answer.
Example: I have a distant cousin who invented name of "head of family" to have
some name to start with. "James" instead of "unknown father". When I contacted
her, she said it "sounded as good as any other"! That error has
propogated to the Internet, even after correct name was found.
- Mistakes are common.
Even in published histories.
Especially in collected indexes.
Beware lest research duplicates error made by previous
generation of researchers.
Have to checkout the source.
Have to corroborate source with other data.
Example: In a published county history the author used the given
name of his maternal grandmother for the given name of his paternal
grandmother. Only other data, such as tombstone of paternal grandparents clears
up the error.
- Date and indicate authorship of all you create
You'll avoid mixing up your own versions
Once computer files get sent as attachments, converted to
another format, etc. they loose their original date stamp.
All files of importance should have the creation date
and the authors name as part of the text of the file itself!
Even for documents created by typewriter or hand this is
important. Otherwise, a reader in the future will have no idea how
pertinent your material is. Or which version is the most current.
Example: Document which states an important fact may be very
valuable if created by an eye witness. Or of little use if it is not dated
and no sources are cited. It may be a derivative document.
- Be aware of proximity in time and place
Such proximity does not prove a relationship
Conversly lack of physical association does not disprove a
relationship
When find someone in census, look around at the neighbors. Groups
of (sometimes distant) relatives moved together, immigrated to same
area, etc.
- Be aware of different date formats.
Can eliminate confusion by just spelling out the month.
American June 22, 1923 (Month, Day, Year) or 6/22/1923
British and ... 22 June 1923 or 22/06/1923 (Day, Month, Year)
Recommended genealogy standard 22 June 1923 (Day, Month spelled
out, Year)
Common computer format 19230623 == 1923/06/22 (Year/Month/Day) - especially
for dating files
- Different Spellings of a Surname are Not
Significant.
Except when you miss a record because it is indexed by a different spelling than
you are using
Census enumerators spelled names as they heard them -
phoenetically.
Eg. Mounts, Mountz, Mounce, Mount ....
Immigrants often Anglicized their name, but not uniformly.
Individuals sometimes changed the spelling of their name without
legal action.
Example, a miller who shortened his last name fit better on the flour
sacks.
A few generations later, relatives changed it back, because people
often mispronounced the result.
Understand the Soundex indexing method. See
The National Archives The Soundex Indexing System
- Don't Rely Solely on Citations, Abstracts or
Transcriptions of Sources.
And certainly, don't rely on conclusions made by others from the
source.
Source may say something different than what someone else says it
does.
Source may contain more than the transcription or what the source is quoted as
saying.
Hard copies and/or computer images of source usually suffice for
content.
However, sometimes only the microfilm or the original document is clear enough to read.
And many times, sometimes even the original is undecipherable.
- Date Notebook Entries, and Copies you Make - Indicate Where They Were Obtained.
I usually just copy the title page of any book from which I
obtain copies.
- Copy Just About Everything
If you spend any effort to find and examine a record, then
spend the extra time, effort and money to get a copy for your files.
When traveling, it's a good use of time to copy and analyze in depth
later.
- Collect and Preserve Contact Information for Researchers/Informants
Never know when you'll need to contact them again.
E-mail addys are notoriously ephemeral.
Postal address and phone number are much better
- Protect Your and Other People's Privacy and Personal Information
Remember that information on Internet websites are accessible by
anyone with a computer
Most Genealogical software has a mechanism for hiding names and
dates of living persons
- Always Contact the Researcher Directly
Don't rely on the posted data
There is probably more to be learned
- Use Multiple Keys/Approaches/Search for Each Internet/Computer Search
You may have the wrong spelling
Indexer may have made a spelling error
As last resort follow all the "hits".
- Beware the Hidden/Erroneous Assumption
You may not realize you've made a mistake
Don't want to spend time searching a line of ancestry only
to find it's not your line.
Example: Letter from M. D. Welch stating "Mother says ...."
Context leads to conclusion this "Mother" was probably the maternal grandmother of
the man receiving the letter. For years I thought M. D. Welch was a
married daughter of the "Mother" whom I knew only as Mrs. Hirst, because I didn't know any related
people named Welch. Only when I found Mrs. Hirst married a second time to a James Welch, did I
realize that M. D. was her son. Then he was easy to find in the
census.
- Document Your Findings as You Proceed
Important enough to search out? Then important enough to document and pass on.
Your conclusions will grow dim with time. Write up your
conclusions and document your research in a timely fashion.
© Prepared by Jay
November 16, 2011