All the information you gather when you build a family tree needs to be tracked. Everything from where you obtained it to specific detailed references are important. These are known as "citing your sources." This is a huge part to your family history research.
This allows you to figure out how accurate the info you gathered is compared to interviews and other possible stories that take place. Your family will appreciate the hard work you put in to provide everyone with accountable dates based on validating everything. It will be a crucial part of your genealogy if you ever decide to publish your family history online.
If you find information that conflicts with what you already have in your family tree data, knowing the source of your original data can help you refer back and determine which information is most likely to be more accurate.
Eventually you will find new details and having this handy will be essential to your findings. You may find that there is information you overlooked during your initial research.
Validating your findings
Starting a family tree is quite easy, considering you will provide information you already know. The question is; have you ever validated it? Seriously, over the years your parents, grandparents and other relatives have probably told you stories about an event that you feel you know. However, it's possible that the story itself grew over the years and it's not exactly what happened. This is why it's important to find birth, marriage, and death certificates as well as any other documents you can find.
There are 2 kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are the most reliable.
The Difference between Primary and Secondary
Getting a hold of a primary source is the best finding available. It's a record of when the event took place and usually someone witnessed it. Marriage certificates are great examples because they have a witness and specific dates when two people got married. This is considered a primary source of information. You will also find the full names of each individual.
A secondary source would be record that was created quite some time after the event had taken place, or by a person who did not actually witness the event. In the example of a marriage certificate, the document is issued at the time of marriage, so it would be considered to be a primary source for the marriage details. The certificate also states the dates of birth of the marriage partners. However these details are noted several decades after the births took place. So although the birth dates appear on the marriage certificate, the certificate would be considered a secondary source for this particular piece of information. A primary source for names and birth dates would be the original birth certificates.
In this way, some genealogical sources can act as both primary and secondary sources, depending on which piece of information one is looking at. Regardless of whether your information is from a primary or secondary source, always document the source for future reference when creating your family tree outline.
This allows you to figure out how accurate the info you gathered is compared to interviews and other possible stories that take place. Your family will appreciate the hard work you put in to provide everyone with accountable dates based on validating everything. It will be a crucial part of your genealogy if you ever decide to publish your family history online.
If you find information that conflicts with what you already have in your family tree data, knowing the source of your original data can help you refer back and determine which information is most likely to be more accurate.
Eventually you will find new details and having this handy will be essential to your findings. You may find that there is information you overlooked during your initial research.
Validating your findings
Starting a family tree is quite easy, considering you will provide information you already know. The question is; have you ever validated it? Seriously, over the years your parents, grandparents and other relatives have probably told you stories about an event that you feel you know. However, it's possible that the story itself grew over the years and it's not exactly what happened. This is why it's important to find birth, marriage, and death certificates as well as any other documents you can find.
There are 2 kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are the most reliable.
The Difference between Primary and Secondary
Getting a hold of a primary source is the best finding available. It's a record of when the event took place and usually someone witnessed it. Marriage certificates are great examples because they have a witness and specific dates when two people got married. This is considered a primary source of information. You will also find the full names of each individual.
A secondary source would be record that was created quite some time after the event had taken place, or by a person who did not actually witness the event. In the example of a marriage certificate, the document is issued at the time of marriage, so it would be considered to be a primary source for the marriage details. The certificate also states the dates of birth of the marriage partners. However these details are noted several decades after the births took place. So although the birth dates appear on the marriage certificate, the certificate would be considered a secondary source for this particular piece of information. A primary source for names and birth dates would be the original birth certificates.
In this way, some genealogical sources can act as both primary and secondary sources, depending on which piece of information one is looking at. Regardless of whether your information is from a primary or secondary source, always document the source for future reference when creating your family tree outline.
About the Author:
Want to find out more about building a family tree online then check out this family tree website and build your very own accurate family tree diagram for free online.
|
0 nhận xét: