Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )










Reply to this topicStart new topicStart Poll

> Documentation, How do you handle it?
 
How do you handle unverified details of your family?
No documentation, no inclusion. Sorry. [ 1 ]  [5.56%]
If it's speculation, I mark it as such. [ 5 ]  [27.78%]
Include it. Prove me wrong! [ 4 ]  [22.22%]
Depends on the situation. [ 5 ]  [27.78%]
What's documentation? [ 3 ]  [16.67%]
Total Votes: 18
Guests cannot vote 
Sekhmet 
Posted on 21-Jan-2005, 06:54 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
********

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 898
Joined: 08-Sep-2004
ZodiacAlder

Realm: Pittsburgh-ish, Pennsylvania

female





Documentation is one of my pet rants in genealogy. This is probably because of my history background, I freely admit that.

For those needing more detail, documentation in genealogy means that you have some form of source that provided you with information. This could be primary documents, like birth certificates, marriage licenses, census records, and their ilk, secondary sources, like compiled family history books, someone else's research findings, etc., or tertiary and beyond, where everything else tends to land. If you have no idea where the source came from, then it's completely undocumented.

Tell me your thoughts, and I'll withold my rantings for awhile! king.gif
PMEmail Poster               View My Space Profile.
Top
AShruleEgan 
Posted on 22-Jan-2005, 10:20 AM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
Group Icon

Group: Ireland
Posts: 2,131
Joined: 19-Jun-2003
ZodiacRowan

Realm: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

male





I keep the info with that person in their file in the "notes" section but mark it as speculation until I can prove it otherwise. Once I have proof, I place the info in the proper place.

Most of those notes are hear-say from other family members. I can pretty much consider it true when I locate some new family members that we never knew they existed and they know of the same story.
PMEmail Poster               
Top
dragonboy3611 
Posted on 22-Jan-2005, 01:58 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



A Friend to who needs one.
Group Icon

Group: Ireland
Posts: 743
Joined: 01-Nov-2004
ZodiacBirch

Realm: USA, New York

male





Wouldn't documentation be a good thing in family history? I mean, it would give you the material proof of what you've been searching for.


--------------------
"Men at some time are masters of their fate"
Jul Caesar, Act i, Sc.2

"When sorrow comes, they come not single spies, but in battalions"
Hamlet, Act iv, Sc.5

"All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity"
Hamlet, Act i, Sc.2
PMEmail Poster               
Top
AShruleEgan 
Posted on 22-Jan-2005, 05:05 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
Group Icon

Group: Ireland
Posts: 2,131
Joined: 19-Jun-2003
ZodiacRowan

Realm: Winston-Salem, North Carolina

male





Of course but in the case of those who are Irish, it's very hard to find documentation. Most of it has been destroyed from the 1922 uprising or from the government recycling paper in 1917 for the war effort.

Sometimes, you need to hear stories from other relatives to back up some of the information you may have received. It's all that you have to work with.










king.gif
PMEmail Poster               
Top
Gordon 
Posted on 22-Jan-2005, 08:38 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Chieftain of the Clan
*****

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 117
Joined: 30-Dec-2002
ZodiacWillow

Realm: Texas

male





I always mark it as speculation until I can either find documented proof. I've done research on my family for the past 12 years and have so many 'undocumented' relatives from sharing information with others. Seems my last name, with it's many spelling variations, all derive from the same source. Until I can find proof though, we are all separate lines sharing a common thread but no true relations. Just my opinion though


--------------------
Lay you down in green meadows amongst the heather for it is there the music calls to your soul and beckons you home.
PMEmail Poster               
Top
Sekhmet 
Posted on 27-Jan-2005, 11:51 AM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
********

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 898
Joined: 08-Sep-2004
ZodiacAlder

Realm: Pittsburgh-ish, Pennsylvania

female





Sorry I haven't replied sooner, guys...bad case of strep throat made me a little...well, let's just say loopy and leave it at that. Certainly in no shape to put something coherent on here!

Documentation is one of those potential dividing points amongst a lot of genealogists. There are several camps that researchers fall into, ranging from one extreme - "If I don't have the primary source in front of me, it doesn't exist", and the opposite - "Put it all down and let the chips fall where they may". Many fall into a point somewhere in the middle of these, making some discernment and judgment calls along the way. I happen to be one of those types.

When one gets right down to it, there is a lot of family information that comes to us from sources that we wouldn't be able to use in most scholarly situations. Family rumors, "stories", and tidbits of information starting with "I was always told that..." make up large portions of our information. Sometimes these give us leads that let us find documentation to substantiate them. Sometimes they don't. I tend to be reluctant to throw these out for a few rather compelling reasons (at least to me):

1. Most of these rumors have a kernel of truth in them somewhere, and just because you can't find it right now, doesn't mean it won't turn up down the road.

2. These are still part of your family's folklore, as it were. They are a part of what gives your family identity. To throw them out "out of hand" gives the potential of robbing the family story of the detail that makes it a story of your family rather than a litany of names and dates.

3. Sometimes the process of disproving a family story gives rise to even more interesting information along the way. As an example, I am related to the Short family. Now, for years I saw Short relatives in the Catholic cemetery adjoining the Protestant one, and upon inquiry as to whether they were relations of ours, I was always told no, under no uncertain terms. "Those're other Shorts, not ours." The main reasoning behind this assertion was because my family had always held that we were German in descent, and those were Irish Catholics. No way they could be ours. As it turned out, not only were they related, they were directly so, and the Short line actually went back much further in the area than we had ever known. My first Short ancestor came here from Ireland in the late 1700s with a considerable amount of money and was fairly well educated. The hows and whys of his arrival are eluding me, but we'll get there. In the process I got to find out *why* nobody knew that we were related to this line. To make a long story short, the German families that the Shorts tended to marry into brought along their stricter viewpoints of things like...oh, say...alcohol and gambling, amongst other things. It seems there were at least two splits in the family over these issues, causing one half to disown the other half to the point that until recently, we had no idea we were related. As my grandmother put it so very succinctly, "Don't care what you say, we ain't related to those drunks". LOL They're total strangers to each other now and the fight still carries on.

So if you were to ask my opinion on the documentation issue, I would say use caution. If it can't be proven by sources, say so, but by all means make the attempt to find out one way or the other. Accept that sometimes there will be no way to find out one way or the other, of course, but don't throw it away. It could very well be that you're holding a piece of someone else's puzzle and yours will fit in quite nicely!
PMEmail Poster               View My Space Profile.
Top
erickbloodax 
Posted on 27-Jan-2005, 03:27 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Honored Clan Member
****

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 79
Joined: 20-Jun-2004
ZodiacHolly

Realm: Arizona

male





A lot of my family stories are just that, stories handed down. My mother was able to document them, so that is a plus. These stories tell us who we are and who we wish to be; my Grandfather jumped ship in New York, then joined the Army to get U.S. citizenship. He was promptly shipped off to France where he survived some of the bloodiest fighting in WWI. Ah, to be brave like Grandfather.
My other Grandfather also fought in WWI and when he returned, he found that the family had sold all his belongings. No one expected him to live and they needed the money. Ah, to handle adversity like Grandfather.
Then there is the story of the cousin who while camping on the Oregon Trail, used a discarded musket barrel for a spit over his fire. When the barrel got hot enough, the powder charge cooked off and the musket ball broke his leg. Ah, let's not do anything stupid.


--------------------
If you don't come back muddy and bloody, you didn't have a good time.
PMEmail Poster               
Top
Siobhan Blues 
Posted on 24-Jun-2005, 03:51 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
********

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 1,127
Joined: 25-Nov-2003
ZodiacAsh


female





wink.gif
I bet ya'll will understand my delight then at recently receiving a copy of my great-great-grandmother's death certificate then! My kids were like 'ewwww, that's morbid' but I told them 'noooo - that's documentation!'

Ive gotten in touch with a dedicated, terrific woman who is related to the Humphries side of my dad's family, and she is the one who has devoted so much time and effort to researching our family history. Since the Humphries tie into my Gore family not too far back, we've had a lot to share. Our common ancestor is at the Rose Hill Cemetery here in Austell, and it was nice to meet this cousin Charlene last summer for the first time.

Three cheers for documentation!!

Hip Hip...
SB


--------------------
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king..."
user posted image

SGGardner Art

www.SouthernShireFarm.com
PM               
Top
roll1959 
  Posted on 11-Sep-2005, 11:39 AM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Servant
**

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 45
Joined: 27-Feb-2004
ZodiacIvy

Realm: Wyoming, Michigan, U.S.A.

male





I am currently scanning Photo's of my Mother's and Uncle's family, that were given to me from my Aunt, after my Uncle passed, and I have just one problem with this large amount of information. NO BODY PUT NAMES ON THE PICTURES! I talked with my mother, who is in her 70's, and she isn't sure if some are Family member's, or in some cases, just class-mates of my Uncle.
I have a lot of "Unknown male" JPG's. And a lot of Dective work in checking on one photo, and knowing one person is a family member, and checking if they are in another photo.


--------------------
"Esse quam videri."
To be, rather than to seem.
PMEmail PosterMy Photo Album               
Top
Siobhan Blues 
Posted on 12-Sep-2005, 03:08 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Celtic Guardian
********

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 1,127
Joined: 25-Nov-2003
ZodiacAsh


female





I know the feeling. Just last week my mom was showing me some very old photos and pointed to this person & that, saying 'oh look, there's..." but there were no names written on the photos. I promptly picked up a pen and in very small letters proceeded to note on the photo who was who. (Don't worry, it was on the border at the bottom!)
PM               
Top
roll1959 
Posted on 07-Dec-2005, 01:42 PM
Quote Post

Member is Offline



Servant
**

Group: Celtic Nation
Posts: 45
Joined: 27-Feb-2004
ZodiacIvy

Realm: Wyoming, Michigan, U.S.A.

male





I have a Book entitled Mills, Elizabeth Shown. Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian. www.Genealogical.com Printed: 1997, reprinted: 2005. ISBN#: 0806315431

Mills, Elizabeth Shown. QuickSheet: Citing Online Historical Sources. www.Genealogical.com Printed: 2005 ISBN#: 0806317612

You can purchase this at http://www.genealogical.com/item_detail.as...p?afid=&ID=3846
This is the "bible" of Family Genealogy Information and Research.
wink.gif
PMEmail PosterMy Photo Album               
Top
0 User(s) are reading this topic (0 Guests and 0 Anonymous Users)
0 Members:

Reply to this topic Quick ReplyStart new topicStart Poll


 








© Celtic Radio Network
Celtic Radio is a TorontoCast radio station that is based in Canada.
TorontoCast provides music license coverage through SOCAN.
All rights and trademarks reserved. Read our Privacy Policy.








[Home] [Top]