Posts in October 11, 2023

Years ago after a presentation, a gentleman came up and told me that I should not suggest people rely on census records or other “secondary records” (his phrasing) for information. I should suggest better sources. That’s just not the way it works. We do not always have the sources that we would like to have. While census records can be incorrect and information that’s secondary can be suspect, sometimes it is all that we have. My ancestor, Ellen Butler was born in Missouri in the 1850s. Her family moved frequently, did not attend any church that kept records, there is no family bible that I can find, and she died before there was vital registration of deaths as well. While I keep looking for a “better source” of […]