GENEALOGY
Tips & Tricks
SOURCES
from
Knowles Researcher, Vol. 1, Number 2, June 1993
by Bob & Delores Knowles
Everyone of us has at least one information note in our files about an ancestor, and we can’t remember the source. Was it in a book we read? Was it something in a letter we received? Did a relative tell us about it?
To those of you who may be just beginning your genealogical adventure, a solid rule of the game is: Always write down the source of every piece of information you receive!
The good researcher knows that material without the proper sources cited to back it up must only be regarded as clues and not fact. Sources fall into two categories: Primary and Secondary. Your aim should be, whenever possible, to have each item in your family history supported by a primary source.
A Primary Source is a record made of an event at, or very near, the time of its occurrence. An example would be a birth certificate, which is made shortly after a child is born. Other examples of primary sources are death certificates, census records, deeds, wills, marriage records, tax records, guardianships, and certain family Bible records. For an entry in a Bible to be used as a primary source, it must be determined that the entry was made within the same generation of the event recorded. The publishing date of the book itself must also bear out the correct time frame of the event.
Secondary Sources are records of an event made at some point in time after its occurrence. Examples of secondary sources are compiled published marriage indexes and census indexes. Published family histories are also secondary sources. It is unfortunate that some people base their entire research on the published works of others who, in turn, had done the same thing, thereby compounding a high rate of error.
It must be noted that sometimes a primary source can have errors and some secondary sources are completely factual. All of us have come across birth certificates with the wrong date, the name spelled incorrectly, etc. That’s why it is desirable to base your material on as many different primary sources as possible. When it is not possible to obtain a primary source, or when you feel that the one primary source you can find contains error, then you should strive to obtain various secondary sources so they can be compared and judged for accuracy. When you have conflicting information in sources about a person or event, you make what is called a Preponderance of Evidence Judgment. You must weight all the evidence found in all the sources and give a good argument as to why you find a fact true or false.
Finally, when you compile your own family history, cite your sources listing each primary and secondary source as well as giving your preponderance of evidence arguments. Let your aim be to make your genealogical effort as accurate as it can be.
