Making Sure Genealogy Records Are Relevant
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
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For example several years ago I came across a record in my research that had a couple having a child that the birth year was even before the father was old enough to have a child. It had the father born in 1902, listed him getting married in 1922 and their first child born in 1908. Well we all know that is not a relevant record at all. So then you trace that back to where the original record came from. Is it a primary or secondary resource. If it is primary then you need to keep digging to find out where the mistake comes in. But if it is secondary information then you should try to find a primary record for this child at least to make sure you get the correct dates.
When you are interviewing a family member for your research, the information that they tell you without showing you proof would be secondary information also. Just make sure that the information is accurate from the very start, because if in the future you get someone looking thru your research or if you have your information on ancestry or family search where others can see it. If they look at it and you have information incorrect it would not look good on your behalf.
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For example several years ago I came across a record in my research that had a couple having a child that the birth year was even before the father was old enough to have a child. It had the father born in 1902, listed him getting married in 1922 and their first child born in 1908. Well we all know that is not a relevant record at all. So then you trace that back to where the original record came from. Is it a primary or secondary resource. If it is primary then you need to keep digging to find out where the mistake comes in. But if it is secondary information then you should try to find a primary record for this child at least to make sure you get the correct dates.
When you are interviewing a family member for your research, the information that they tell you without showing you proof would be secondary information also. Just make sure that the information is accurate from the very start, because if in the future you get someone looking thru your research or if you have your information on ancestry or family search where others can see it. If they look at it and you have information incorrect it would not look good on your behalf.
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