20
Sep
Documents Reliability
Debby

In my upcoming lecture at OCCGS (Orange County California Genealogical Society) I discuss the importance of looking at documents with an open mind to the reliability and possible problems with their content.

Any document can have omissions, accidental or  intentional mistakes.  Even if a document is certified, it does not guarantee its reliability.  Using a combination of documents can help add validity to a piece of information/a fact.  Will all information have conclusive answers, no, but researchers can document their findings and possible issues with the results.

So when an piece of information looks out of place, go back and check the other documents to see if they are reliable.

Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills goes into great detail on the analysis of documents and what to watch out for.

Category: Genealogy  Tags: , , ,  40 Comments
10
Sep
Degree of Separation
Debby

One of the tendencies when researching a family line, is going off on one line and researching everything on that particular branch with further generations.  I sometimes have to stop and determine the degree of separation of the individual to initial person.  Knowing that an 8th cousin, 6 times removed, was in the California Gold Rush may be interesting, but when reporting back to the family, they usually say “who is that in relation to me?”, and upon getting an explanation, just smile and nod.

In The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy, there is a Degree of Relationship chart to start determining the degree of separation.  It is also convenient if your genealogy software generates relationship charts.  As in many families, there might be more than one relationship generated for an individual depending on family dynamics of past generations.

Category: Genealogy  Tags: , , , , ,  12 Comments
08
Sep
Family Newsletter
Debby

Keeping in touch is so much easier with email, blogs, and other social networking tools.  The question is do we really stay in touch with family and friends about our memorable moments or do we just share what we remember at the time of the email?

Family newsletters allow the recipients to find out details about other family members and potentially add their stories.  Getting family members to contribute regardless of size of entry, allows everyone to have their input recorded for future generations.

Conducting interviews of family members is one of the recommendations in Creating Family Newsletters by Elaine Floyd.  Can you image the excitement for future generations to read old family newsletters and get details about the lives of their ancestors?

Newsletters do not have to be fancy.  One page to start and once family members start adding content, perhaps even more pages.  Consider doing a newsletter online….

Category: Genealogy  Tags: , , , ,  7 Comments
06
Sep
School Records
Debby

Summer is almost over and it’s time for the kids to go back school.  I have been going through old school papers trying to determine what to keep for my children. Do I keep their best papers, art projects, report cards?  Knowing what to keep for future generations is a challenge.  I have thought of scanning the report cards and maybe some papers, but will I keep the files up to date with the latest technology so they can be read?

I have been looking at some ideas in Katherine Scott Sturdevant’s book on Bringing Your Family History to Life through Social History.  I know it is important now to date the items I keep and record who they belong to.  Taking the time now to record who the friends are in the class pictures will be helpful for my children when and if they decide to look at what I have kept for them.

Category: Genealogy  Tags: , , ,  9 Comments
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