Citing Your Sources
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By The Tree Shaker-
I ran across an obituary of a family member of mine the other day and it said that my ancestor was born in Scott County, Va.. but was originally from Floyd County, Ky. So I also looked in the Floyd County, Kentucky newspaper to see if I could find another obituary that may hold more information since it’s the area he was from.
I did locate another obituary for this ancestor in the Floyd County, Ky., newspaper and was comparing the two obituaries and found that on the one that was in the Virginia Newspaper it said that he died in his son George’s house and in the Kentucky Newspaper it said he died in his son Robert’s house. So this has brought yet another puzzle for me to figure out by looking at his death certificate and other sources to see whose house he actually died in.
You really need to write down where you found your information when you are researching for your ancestors. You could have a family member ask you where you got the information that their dad had passed away in 1999 when in reality there is an obituary and headstone that proves that their dad didn’t really pass away til 2001.
Citing my sources is something that I was not taught when I first started doing genealogy research. So it has been a challenge for me after several years to go back and try to remember and find the information I collected again just so I could cite my sources this time.
When citing your sources you should write down the name of the record source, page number and publication date, the volume or catalog number, the location where you found the source, the type of source (heirloom or gravestone, etc), and who the source belongs to. If you find the information online there are a few things you should include when citing the source which is the name of the website, the URL of the website, the date you accessed the website, the name of the source, and the original publication date.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
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I ran across an obituary of a family member of mine the other day and it said that my ancestor was born in Scott County, Va.. but was originally from Floyd County, Ky. So I also looked in the Floyd County, Kentucky newspaper to see if I could find another obituary that may hold more information since it’s the area he was from.
I did locate another obituary for this ancestor in the Floyd County, Ky., newspaper and was comparing the two obituaries and found that on the one that was in the Virginia Newspaper it said that he died in his son George’s house and in the Kentucky Newspaper it said he died in his son Robert’s house. So this has brought yet another puzzle for me to figure out by looking at his death certificate and other sources to see whose house he actually died in.
You really need to write down where you found your information when you are researching for your ancestors. You could have a family member ask you where you got the information that their dad had passed away in 1999 when in reality there is an obituary and headstone that proves that their dad didn’t really pass away til 2001.
Citing my sources is something that I was not taught when I first started doing genealogy research. So it has been a challenge for me after several years to go back and try to remember and find the information I collected again just so I could cite my sources this time.
When citing your sources you should write down the name of the record source, page number and publication date, the volume or catalog number, the location where you found the source, the type of source (heirloom or gravestone, etc), and who the source belongs to. If you find the information online there are a few things you should include when citing the source which is the name of the website, the URL of the website, the date you accessed the website, the name of the source, and the original publication date.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
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