The last two months, we have been doing the first steps in genealogical research. We have assembled the information we have at home and have begun to organize what was found. Before moving on to the different kind of resources available to researchers, we need to learn to determine how reliable each source is.
First, is the information from a primary source or a secondary source? A primary source is one that was made at the time of the event or soon after. Examples of this are birth dates from birth certificates, death certificates for death dates, wills written by the deceased in their own handwriting. Secondary sources are those that have information stated long after the event took place or compiled or copied by another perso~ Examples of secondary sources are birth dates in death records, compiled genealogies and transcriptions of primary records.
Next, is the information direct or indirect? Direct evidence points to and supports a fact with little or no analysis. Indirect evidence requires thoughtfiil analysis and additional information to come to a conclusion. Direct evidence of a birth is a birth certificate; indirect evidence would be a listing in a census record before 1880. Until that time, all farnily ties are inconclusive until other evidence is found to support the relationships.
All good genealogical research draws on a variety of sources. All available records should be searched before a conclusion is reached about the reliability of the facts.
With the recent growth of farnily information on the Internet, it is important to realize that the Internet is only one source and should he treated with the same reserve as any compiled record source. It provides excellent material to follow up but should never be used as primary evidence. The exception to this would be the primary records that are now being uploaded. This includes the actual digital pages of census and other sources that have been reproduced from the originals.
Two excellent books on evidence are Evidence Citation and Analysis for the Farnily Historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills and Genealogical Evidence by Noel C. Stevenson.
The last consideration of evidence is to always site your sources when doing research, no matter what kind they are. By properly listing your sources, other researchers can locate the same facts easily and can determine the reliability of your research at a glance.
Next month, we will begin to examine the sources available for genealogical research.
