More on Genealogical Proof: the standard for what it is and is not

Every fact in a record must come under scrutiny for accuracy, as well as for being applied to the correct person. Typos and other faults cause misspellings which can throw a record into confusion. Place names can change as counties grow and boundaries are re-drawn, and new counties are created.

An example I recently saw would be on my 7th gr-grandfather, Richard Hancock, who died in Cohansey, Cumberland, New Jersey 20 May 1689.  A public record was created which stated he died in Cohorsey, Cumberland, New Jersey.  With the Internet, it is a very quick check to see the location mentioned in a record. In this case, it would show there is no such thing as Cohorsey in New Jersey. Since I was familiar with the family, and had seen other records showing they had lived in Cohansey, the mistake was quickly resolved for me.

Other times, I have puzzled over a place name for days or even weeks before finding enough clues in alternate records to sort out the location.

This is but a very simple and obvious part of creating accurate family trees.  Genealogical Proof Standard, by Christine Rose, defines what is a genealogical proof in her small but powerfully written paperback.  I strongly recommend the book, printed in 2005, as the best way to guard against wasting time, creating erroneous trees and false data. Correct spelling isn't even at the beginning of the list of cautions in the book.

Her six-step process chart on page 18 begins with "Conduct a reasonably exhaustive search among a variety of records" and ends with "Write up the conclusion, including an explanation of any opposing evidence and how it was resolved. Include citations."

A more typical conflict in genealogical proof is in the case of my grandfather, Kustaa Heikkila. Records from relatives in Finland give his mother's name as Josefina Seppala. His border crossing record, from the ship Tunisia log of alien passengers, shows his destination as his cousin, August Seppala, in Albion, California. My grandmother, who knew his family and visited them, said his mother was Josefina Seppala.  But now I have a conflict to resolve, because his death certificate as excerpted by Merle A. Reinikka, says that his mother's name was Josephine Tabbla.

Possibly the handwriting was so poor that it is merely a transcription error. But I will need to resolve the conflict.

This week seems to have been sprinkled with errors of one kind or another. As I was comparing my information to other family trees, I found one tree that had assigned my gr-grandmother Elizabeth Anderson to the family of Joshua Anderson and his wife California Queen.  I sent the tree owner a copy of the 1850 census which shows Elizabeth with her father, Joshua Anderson and his first wife, Millie Jones. The census agrees with the information on Elizabeth's death certificate, given by her husband John Dellinger whose father Eli served with Joshua Anderson in the Civil War.  California Queen was twelve years old when my gr-grandmother Elizabeth was born.

Part of verifying the accuracy of a tree is whether the given ages of people make sense within the relationship. I have seen multiple trees where the mother's death date was some years before the birth of her child. Clearly not possible, but someone missed the error, and others copied it. Is the mother's death date wrong, or the child's birth date wrong, or was it a different mother entirely?

I have a strong liking for solving puzzles, untangling mysteries and uncovering hidden stories in the lives of my ancestors. How wonderful to live in an age where so many records and books are available on the Interent.  Not that long ago, people had to travel to where the records were kept to do the research. While this is still true of some records, it is less true every day as diligent librarians scan records and books into digital format.  I can time travel to the scene of Magna Carta in England in 1215, or to New Caledonia in 1945, where my father served as a radioman for the Navy in WWII.

NATIONAL ARCHIVES VIRTUAL GENEALOGY FAIR SEPT. 3 & 4

Next Wednesday and Thursday the National Archives presents a series of classes on genealogy over the Internet.

Free classes on how to access records in the various holdings of the National Archives will be accompanied by handouts and a call-in genealogy help line.

See the announcement here for the full schedule, links to downloading the handouts, etc.  See you there:)

Sorting it out

While there are people in my tree who lack enough information for me to find their ancestors, most of the people I have documented have the opposite problem: too much information. Although primary source information usually corroborates with other primary sources, even that may seem to fail at times.  Usually there is a reasonable explanation for conflicting evidence, such as two people with the same name living in the same area, and further information will often sort them out.

It is the secondary sources with their derivative facts which most often produces conflicting evidence, and the reason is usually some kind of human error in the transcription. Again, comparing it to further information can usually sort out the facts from the confusion, but only if one has a way to evaluate each bit of evidence.

Early settlers in America often moved from their original place of landing, but they did not frequently change either their religious affiliations, or their occupations. The names of their children would remain the same except where a daughter changed to her married name, and frequently her husband's name will be found with her father's name in the local military or land or church records.

Wills are wonderful primary source documents which often reveal family relationships and married daughters, but since the eldest son was frequently given the home farm (as well as the care of his aging parents) he might not be mentioned in a will, as he would already be in possession of his inheritance. 


For those who wish to delve a little deeper, I recommend the classic "Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian" by Elizabeth Shown Mills.

The Geography of Genealogy

Geography shines understanding upon the migrations of our ancestors. Place names may either confirm or obscure the origination of families. To study my ancestors has been to learn how vital the natural features of the world was to their travels, commerce, and migrations.

Before the golden age of canals in England, there were rivers which carried much of their commerce, which made their travel easier, which powered mills for grinding their grains, and which provided fish for their tables.

Place names change through the centuries, or are misspelled in books and documents, and so confusion is cast upon which home village to look for a family name.

Latest case in point:

The Quaker John Pancoast (also spelled Pankurst) came to Burlington, New Jersey, with his eight children on the ship Paradise in 1680. He brought with him a written recommendation from his church in England. In the various books and documents citing this letter, he is said to have lived in Northamptonshire, an English county. His church is said to have been in "Ugbrooke". He is also said to have lived in or near Ashton.

Ugbrooke is a famous country estate in Devon which originally belonged the earls of Clifford.  It is nowhere near the place where John Pancoast lived and went to church. 

Bugbrooke is a small town on the River Nene, which also happens to flow through Ashton on its way to Northampton in Northamptonshire. 

And so the simple dropping of a letter at the beginning of a word can raise confusion like dust, obscuring the real home village of an immigrant ancestor.

The life of a genealogist is one of details, chasing out the little devils that hide the facts. Looking up Ugbrooke, finding it in Devonshire instead of Northamptonshire, discovering the river that connects Ashton and Bugbrooke -- the simple joys of a researcher on the family tree.

Ancestry.com and new records

This week I checked on some of the 'brick walls' in my family tree, and was pleasantly surprised to find new records added to the already impressive and vast collection at Ancestry.com

Although most of my 'end of this line' branches remain the same, one branch grew fifteen new people,with documentation. In the chart above, most of the people on the right half were born and died in England, and most of the people on the left half were born in, or moved to, America.

 These are some of my earliest immigrant ancestors. Some of them were Quakers. (Click on the picture to see a large version.)

They lived in Milford, Fairfield county, Connecticut, and in the last generation (Mary Coley), moved to Cohansey, Cumberland county, New Jersey, which was settled earlier by Quakers.

MAGNA CARTA - CELEBRATE THE ANNIVERSARY

This Saturday, June 15, celebrate the 798th anniversary of Magna Carta. Hang out our flag. Tell a friend it is a special day. 

Following is a brief calendar of the events concentrated immediately before and after King John put his royal seal to Magna Carta.  This was just the beginning - King John gathered his troops and set out to defeat his barons.

He won some battles, tore down some castles and imprisoned some of his barons - but - he died October 8, 1216 before he could win the war.

Because of the legacy of Magna Carta, we have laws such as Habeas Corpus, the law requiring a person under arrest to be brought before the court to determine whether the government has the right to continue detaining them. People didn't always have that right, and could be held indefinitely without a trial by jury of their peers.

Habeas Corpus resulted from what is now known as Magna Carta clause 39, and may be one of the reasons the prisoners of the war against terror are held in Guantanamo Bay - it is our military base in Cuba and 'technically' is said to not fall under such laws.  (To be strictly fair, our law of habeas corpus can be specifically suspended in cases of rebellion, invasion, and public safety.)

May 17, 1215 - London opens gates to barons (with at least 1,187 knights)

June 15, 1215 - King John sets his seal to Magna Carta

June 17, 1215 - barons sign their vow to enforce it

June 19, 1215 - barons renew their oaths of fealty to King John

July 19, 1215 - A formal document to record the agreement was created by the royal chancery: this was the original Magna Carta. Copies were created and distributed around England, however only four copies are known to still exist today, one of which is on display in our National Archives in Washington, D.C.

August 24, 1215 - Pope Innocent III issues a papal bull declaring Magna Carta null and void.

November 12, 1216 - Magna Carta abbreviated, reissued by John's heir, King Henry III. 

England is planning a great 800th anniversary celebration for Magna Carta in 2015 - sure wish I could be there!

Sources:

Matthew Strickland, ‘Enforcers of Magna Carta (act. 1215–1216)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/theme/93691, accessed 13 June 2013]

'Featured Documents', National Archives, [http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/, accessed 13 June 2013]

'Magna Carta', Wikipedia, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta, accessed 13 June 2013]

Treasures in Full: Magna Carta, 'Timeline', British Library, [http://www.bl.uk/treasures/magnacarta/timeline/timeline.html, accessed 13 June 2013]