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New family historians often ask: What's all this hubbub about documentation?
Why does it matter, and what difference does it make where I got my information?
After all, I am just doing this as a hobby, or to sort out the branches
on the family tree for the upcoming reunion. Often there is the feeling
that "I'm not going to publish my findings or write a book" and no one
is going to see this research but me. Anyway, I'm just doing this for
fun and the fun is in the searching, not in writing down, in minute detail,
where the information came from, so "cut me some slack and lay off the
preaching about citing sources."
Well, I can appreciate those thoughts; they are not much different than
my thinking several years ago when I got started. But since then, I've
seen the light! Let me share with you three of the many reasons why you
want to document your family history findings. Let's begin with the most
useful reason.
Documentation Will Make Your Research Easier and Faster
Surprising, but true. Taking time to document where you got your facts
(or allegations) will save you time later in your research. Let's face
it, most of us do our research a little bit a time, as we have time and
opportunities. Often you do some research on one family, only to set it
aside for a couple years (or more) while other activities, and even other
research, take priority. Well, what happens when you sit down to work
on that line you put off two or three years ago? Without writing down
what you searched and where you found your information, you will likely
look at some of the same sources again, only to find, or not find, what
you had already learned. Like me, I am sure you do not want to spin your
wheels redoing what you did earlier. Indeed, isn't that part of what we
love about genealogy? It's always a new adventure. No two searches, or
families, are quite the same.
Example
We would have found one of my wife's ancestors much faster if her
cousins had documented the source of their information sooner. For
years we heard that Frank Cromwell came from Woodstock, but the state
was not given. We searched every Woodstock in the northern states
(there are more than a dozen) without finding him. Many years later,
when her cousins sent us a picture of Frank's mother, we learned the
source of the Woodstock statement. The back of the picture included
the name and city of the photographer. Only then did we find out that
this was a fair-sized city, with a photography studio in the mid-nineteenth
century. This seemingly insignificant piece of documentation redirected
our efforts to Woodstock, Ontario where we did find Frank and his
family.
Documentation Helps Prevent Duplication of Research
In the course of our research, we can't help but spend some time researching
families others have already researched. Eventually, someone else will
be researching some of the very same families we are looking for today.
Indeed, one of the admonitions new researchers receive is to check for
"previous research." Most of us don't have time to do only "original research"
on all of our families, after all, every person we find means there are
two more (his or her parents) for us to find. We depend on quality previous
research to speed us along our search. Without documentation, we do not
know what sources somebody has already used. This means we will likely
use some of the same sources the earlier family historian used. This wastes
our time and resources which could better be used to solve problems others
haven't tackled yet.
Example
Years ago I located a distant cousin who had acquired some pedigree
charts and family group records about a common ancestor, Penelope
Hazzard. Clarence King had compiled these pages in the 1950s, but
he had assigned different parents to Penelope than had my third-great
Aunt (Arcelli Hall). My task was to determine which, if either set
of parents, were correct. Much to my dismay, none of the material
I received from Clarence King or Aunt Arcelli indicated how they arrived
at their conclusions. It took me about two days of research in probate,
land, and other records to learn that Clarence had made the right
connection. Oh, how I wish he had just made a simple suggestion such
as "according to Joshua Raymond's will, Penelope was an unrecorded
child of Oliver Hazzard and Elizabeth Raymond."
Documentation Gives Others Confidence in Your Research
Yes, this is the old standby reason you read in every genealogy textbook,
but that does not make it any less true. Indeed, nobody seems to argue
with the genealogist's maxim: Without proof, there is no truth. The problem
is that many people, especially those just starting out, do not plan on
publishing their research findings, as they are just doing it for their
own interest. But, let's examine that concept for a minute. Throughout
the course of our research we are constantly using the research of others.
It may be a published family history, a brief biographical sketch, or
a computerized lineage from Ancestral File or the World Family Tree. As
noted above, our research moves forward much faster when we use such resources.
Now, if we use such resources, aren't we obligated in some way to contribute
(i.e. give back) to that growing pool of previously solved genealogical
puzzles?
When we eventually do contribute new information to the database of our
choice, or print up a booklet for a family reunion, won't we want those
who use our information to believe what we say is true? If you have ever
had to correct (or demolish) a cherished "family tradition," (and some
of us get a strange sense of satisfaction in doing so), you will want
to document your findings to make them believable. Of course, not everyone
will believe you over Uncle Lester, but many will, and the your true version
of the story will eventually be accepted, but only if others have confidence
in your research.
Even if you continue to resist publishing (in print or electronic format)
parts of your family history, you will likely end up communicating with
some distant (or close) cousin doing research on a line common to both
of you. This is simply a function of genealogical "networking." As you
research, you will find another researcher who has submitted information
to the International Genealogy Index or one of the databases noted above,
or written an article for a local genealogical periodical, or joined a
lineage society with your common ancestor. You will naturally want to
contact him or her to learn if they have more information. They will want
to exchange information and learn what you have found out. You may place
a query seeking information about a problem, or answer one from another
researcher.
In all of these situations, you will want others to have confidence in
your research, just as you will want to have confidence in theirs. That
confidence can be had for just a little bit of documentation.
Documentation Doesn't Have to Be Hard
Perhaps the biggest objection to documentation is the dismay at the necessity
of proper formatting when citing sources. Well, guess what? There are
so many ways to cite sources, that formatting your citations should not
be a big hang-up or time commitment. Certainly if you are submitting an
article for a scholarly journal you would be expected to follow their
citation format. Lineage societies require a certain level of documentation
to constitute proof of a connection. And, indeed there are some emerging
standards for "scholarly documentation." However, the good news is that
you DO NOT need to follow those standards in everything you document.
There is only one hard and fast rule for general documentation: Record
enough information so that another researcher can determine what you have
searched. Thus it is not enough to say "U.S. Census" for a source. That
is not specific: Which year? Which county and state? What page number?
You would want to say, for example, "1850 census, Berrien County, Michigan,
page 213." This however is the bare minimum. This is adequate for many
research purposes, and it is information that is already on your research
log.
Research log? I certainly hope that as a family historian, you have learned
the value of a research log or calendar of searches. This is the beginning
of documentation, and helps fulfill all three of the reasons for documentation
that I've given in this article:
- A research log speeds your research by easily listing just what sources
you have already searched, and what your results were.
- It also limits duplication of your research efforts by reminding you
what you searched, when you searched, and who you were looking for in
that source.
- Lastly, it is a quick way to provide confidence to others with whom
you share your findings, as you can easily photocopy or print out a
copy of your log.
For those who want to go just a little further in citing their sources,
the six elements of a good source citation include:
- Author (who provided the information)
- Title
- Publication information (publisher, location)
- Date of the information (usually the year)
- Location of the source you used (library or archive) and the call
number
- Reference number to the specific information (page, entry, line, etc.)
Consistent formatting is useful, helpful, and even required in some settings,
but for now, don't get hung up on the commas and colons. Just begin citing
your sources, and cite them well enough that others can understand what
you searched.
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