“Lineages” Introduction to Research Folsom Branch Library

Goals:

1) To show the "HOW" of conducting research 2) To show the "HOW" of documenting research 3) To show the "HOW" of evaluating conflicting data from sources 4) To show what the library and other special settings offer

Outline:

I. Getting Started II. Documenting Your Work III. Evaluating Information IV. Problems V. STPL: What does it have?

VI. Closing/Open Discussion

Getting Started

Please understand that this is intended to b e a basic discussion of research. With that said, the best place to start is where YOU fit into the family history: Dwight's First Rule of Genealogy: "START WITH YOURSELF AND WORK BACKWARDS.." Ask Questions of your elders and exploit their memories before they are gone. Remember, when you start out, you'll want to take a note book or digital recorder and get the notes or speech down on paper. Getting the oral history is one first step.

For a how to guide, see http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

Getting Started

The next thing, after exhausting memories (yours and theirs) is to move back a generation. I find that there are a number of tools that do this pretty well, but you can probably guess, without mind reading, that I'll say, to use Ancestry or some online source. Yes, this is the case, but here's the rationale: get to what you can get to the fastest with the least effort to test the information you have .

Getting Started

Testing What You Have

The best sources that can help you are those closest to you. The U.S. Census is probably a good quick source, but it is not the only one. City directories, on-hand birth records, a Social Security Application or an old bible with obituaries are all good sources. You can use these sources to test what your elders tell you. Memories are often not all that clear on EXACT dates and times .

Getting Started

Try to keep in mind that each fact or bit of information that you seek is like a triangle: It needs to be verified by other sources to stand on its own. Example: you can use the Census to verify where a family lived, then use the city directory or property record to determine ownership.

Getting Started

A Third Rule: Trust But Verify

Remember to try and check most, if not all facts, with outside sources. It won't always be successful, but it will help drown out the clutter of conflicting data that you get. When you exchanges with or collaborate with others, always take some of the information with a grain of salt. Use a means test of a census or other record to nail down items that are contentious .

Getting Started

Fourth Rule: Share and Share Alike. If it works for traffic on 190, Gause or Tulane avenue, it'll work here: share the wealth of the work you've done‘.

Remember that you'll get more bees with honey than with vinegar....

Getting Started

Sources and what will they tell me?

Remember that each source had/has a specific purpose when it was devised. That purpose can add a little "meat on the bones" of your work. Typically, the Census will tell you a great deal about a family. An probate or succession document can show insight (or incite) into the relationships among members of a family. Court minutes can establish "dirt" on certain members of a family. The important thing in searching is What you might call the "fifth rule". I'd say that you are not always searching for specific information, but are seeking a source to further pushing the linage back.

Documenting Your Work

Documentation is "YOUR memory of what you have searched for " It can tell you the time, place and source that you used to find a particular fact There are problems with NOT noting where you found something: 1) You may never find the source again 2) You may not find that edition again 3) You may not remember the library was in

Documenting Your Work

Documentation can be as simple as copying the title information from the book, film or database. Documenting can also help with a lineage to make backtracking easier for someone verifying your work for a lineage or heritage society. Facts, without supporting notes on sources, are only words on a page.

Documenting Your Work

How to document

This is intended to be a brief representation of how to document. For a more complete discussion on documentation see: http://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie.html

Books If you are working with a book, copy the front and back of the title page. The front ("recto') of the page gives you the basic info. The stuff on the back ("verso") of the page. Both sides of the page will give you the complete information on a book. Disc Format If you are working with a CD, you can use the front cover or spine label. In some cases, depending of the version and release of the particular CD, you probably should catch a screen shot of the title screen. The same is true of databases.

Documenting Your Work

Microfilm Sources Try to collect as much information of the film as is possible. Some sources, such as the census, have a clear trail to document. Some film sources are merely books stored on film for preservation - they can be documented as any book. Other film sources, such as the LDS film reels, its probably best to use the film number, item number and item title.

Documenting Your Work

Periodical/Magazine Sources If you remember high school or college, taking notes on magazines can be bothersome at best. If you can get the title, date, page number and title of the article, it should suffice. Internet-Based Sources. Internet sources are among the easiest. It is best to include the title of the web page, the URL and the date accessed. You might run into the "versions" problem that you do with databases, but not all that often.

Evaluating Information

There is a lot that can be said on discerning and discriminating between sources. A pedigree resource file might list a birth as "about 1854". The 1880 Census might have him listed as 27.

Which is correct?

Again, try to find a third corroborating source. If our "circa" guy is still alive in the 1900 census, it should clarify and give his birth month and year, this can clear up any mystery.

Evaluating Information

Often, compiled family trees from LDS (called "Pedigree Resource Files") or Family Tree Maker's Family archives will contain many mistakes. It is best to take this information with a grain of salt.

Evaluating Information

Unlike a vital record, Catholic Church Sacrament or other record, a compilation of names and dates may not have been vetted and should be treated with more than a little caution. Again, think of your work as a three-legged stool. No stool stands on two legs.

Evaluating Information

In cases where no information can be found to refute or verify, make note of and simply state "MY BEST EVIDENCE SUPPORTS" While this won't help with a lineage, it will at least give others who might cite your work a chance to further the work at a later time.

Other Things That Can Help:

Use the Internet and visit forums, discussion groups, usgenweb pages and roots web forums. You can always find a kindred soul here. Use the "electronic" tools to take the place of F2F meetings, phone calls and snail mail. Exploiting the Internet can make life a lot faster. It will allow you to spend more time chasing around cemeteries and archives.

Resolving Problems

Remember that doing any good research will also involve a good deal of history. Knowing the history of an area can make life a LOT easier. An example can readily be taken from New Orleans history. Knowing how an area developed will allow you to pinpoint what records were available at a given point in time. In 1850, the town of La Fayette and the Town of Carrollton (the seat of Jefferson Parish) were distinct communities. Now they are part of Orleans Parish. The burg of Claiborne Hill was once the seat of St. Tammany Parish. The records for the two other towns mentioned are not in any archive in Jefferson parish. They are in the Orleans Public Library.

Resolving Problems

A historical explanation will help to resolve much of the past. Some facts and facets of information will often defy explanation until the words of our elders come alive in diaries and letters. We might think of ourselves as obsessive emailers today. But recall that Thomas Jefferson and George Washington both ran plantations from afar while writing instructions to foremen and supervisors while away in Washington and New York. From the 1840's onward, telegraphy was in vogue, but was expensive. It could not replace the volume of postage anymore than email or FEDEX could replace the USPO today.

Resolving Problems

A little history and insight can resolve many misunderstandings. A little research can correct facts which seem to deviate from good sense.

The best thing to do is to follow the Golden Rule and keep digging.