Welcome to the
University of Hard Knox, Genealogy Dept.
Why is this important? Because you will find that “facts” change. No matter how sure you or others are of any data, “Write it in pencil.” Memories fade. You will often find conflicting information from various reliable sources. Dates, and even names, on tombstones are sometimes wrong. Birth certificates often misspell a name. My wife’s grandfather had his first and middle names reversed on his birth certificate. When he applied for a Social Security card, he had to bring in his mother to vouch for him! (He eventually went through the red-tape to legally change his name to what everyone thought his name was in the first place!) On my mother-in-law’s birth certificate, both her first and middle names were totally misspelled AND her birthdate was off by a day. Moral of the story: “Write it in pencil.”
Secondary sources are no less important, and often are the key to connecting to the rest of your family. However, the details they provide tend to be less reliable than primary sources. During the mid- to late-1800's, there was a renewed interest in genealogy, sparking a flood of genealogical books which are a valuable resource for research today. The 1892 book, Drapers in America, by Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper, is an excellent example of this. Other examples of secondary sources include census records, county or local histories, newspaper articles, employment and/or pension data, city or county directories, associations and memberships.
Tertiary sources provide tentative information that should prompt further investigation. Compilations of data from a variety of providers without adequate documentation can be helpful, but suspect. Many websites on the Internet qualify. The Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) (or LDS , for short) have religiously (pardon the pun) accumulated genealogical data over the years due to their religious beliefs. This can be an enormous help in your research, but much of the information has been received without any verification of accuracy. Thus, these sources can often help point you in the right direction and may even have some accurate information. Or maybe not. “Write it in pencil.”
OK, now for your homework assignment:
(Hey, you didn’t think we were going to spoon-feed you, did ya?)
First, download the Pedigree and Family Group Charts from the link at Rootsweb.com (below) and make lots of copies. (Some quick definitions: a pedigree (or ancestry) is a chart of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. Descendancy is a chart of parents, their offspring, grand children, etc. So your family tree has ancestors as its spreading roots and descendants as its spreading limbs.)
Next, identify and locate the oldest relatives you know. Make a list. How do we say this delicately? These are the people least apt to be around the next time you get the urge to research your family tree. They enjoy talking about “the good old days.” You know -- the stories of walking 5 miles to school in July with the snowbanks over their heads, barefoot, uphill both ways! Pry every last bit of information you can from these people. They will remember stories of Great-uncle Joe’s general store, and all that. Write everything down (in pencil!) or better yet, tape the conversation (extra credit for video). Fill in as much as you can on the pedigree and family group charts. Push for names, dates, and places. Ask about the location of any old family Bibles, photos, scrapbooks, etc. Scour the basements, attics, and garages of these people. You may be amazed at the wealth of family history they have disguised for years as “old junk I never got around to throwin’ out.” They will probably refer you to yet others who may be able to fill in the blanks, cast a different perspective on the stories, and you can probably clean their attics, too.
Once you have gleaned all you can from primary sources, look to the secondary ones. Often these are located at your local library or LDS stake library. There you should find census records (probably on microfilm), lots of books on local history, many biographies and genealogies, etc. More and more of these sources are making their way onto the Internet, so a search for them there is also worth a try. Next, a few trips to the county clerk’s office and the local circuit (or surrogates) court will net you some of the legal documentation. Tromp around a few cemeteries. My family always enjoyed our vacations when I insisted on stopping along the way to search a cemetery where I suspected a coat-tail relative was buried. Well, ok, they endured it. They also laughed at me taking pictures of tombstones. But you will be as glad as I was to have done it.
Search the ‘Net. I have probably doubled my database since going on-line. And a bonus has been to network with a lot of distant relatives. Some with obscure surnames thought they were the last relatives on earth, until we connected.
Write and tell me of your success.
