It can be tempting to go with that first source or reference to an ancestor. It can be even more tempting to go with that conclusion if a second source agrees. An online tree (or recent book) agrees with what you find printed in an 1895 genealogy that has been digitized.
That’s two sources that agree.
Oh boy.
While they are “sources” since they contain information, they are derivative sources since they have been derived from something else. Derived sources are only as accurate as the information from which they were derived and the thoroughness of the person reaching the conclusion. There’s room for error there.
They may not even be two sources–the online tree (or that recent book) could have been derived from the 1895 genealogy. It could even have been copied directly from that 1895 genealogy. There may just be one “source.” And…that source, as we’ve seen, could be wrong.
Finding another source that says the same thing doesn’t mean the information is correct either. It could be another reproduction of the same information.
Use what’s in that 1895 genealogy to set a research plan to look for original records, contemporary materials, or more recent publications that were created from those records.
And if you don’t know how to do that: ask.
That’s the best way to learn and to grow with your research.
3 Responses
Excellent advice, thank u.
This has happened in my family on the Hyman side. After @ three have posted the same erroneous conclusion it is hard to get others to understand that just repeating a mistake doesn’t make it reliable. You are so right. Wish all could read your blogs. Also I have one side trying to prove that two people were brothers when all the evidence points in a different direction, and because they believed this many years ago, when we first started to do genealogy on that family, they will not accept the records from the time
period the ancestors lived as the best source. This is most frustrating, but we love them anyway.
Thanks for your positive comments. I have one family where some have an incorrect maiden name–which has been documented to be incorrect–and it just gets spread around over and over. I’ve blogged about it, put it in my online tree and other places, but it’s still hard when it’s out there all over.