When you gather information that is wrapped around your family tree, you need to make sure everything is as accurate as possible. Any materials you uncover during your resource that provides part of the history will be your sources. So when you start filling your family tree, it’s important to start “citing your sources.”
It helps you judge how accurate the information you gathered is compared to everything else. When you share a family tree with others you want to make sure it is all as accurate as possible. This is especially true if you ever decide to publish your family history or family tree online.
If you find information that conflicts with what you already have in your family tree data, knowing the source of your original data can help you refer back and determine which information is most likely to be more accurate.
There will be new details along the way as well, and having everything handy will be essential to your research. It’s possible that you overlooked something the first time around.
Validating your findings
Starting a family tree is quite easy, considering you will provide information you already know. The question is; have you ever validated it? Seriously, over the years your parents, grandparents and other relatives have probably told you stories about an event that you feel you know. However, it’s possible that the story itself grew over the years and it’s not exactly what happened. This is why it’s important to find birth, marriage, and death certificates as well as any other documents you can find.
There are 2 kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are the most reliable.
Primary and secondary sources of information
Getting a hold of a primary source is the best finding available. It’s a record of when the event took place and usually someone witnessed it. Marriage certificates are great examples because they have a witness and specific dates when two people got married. This is considered a primary source of information. You will also find the full names of each individual.
A secondary source would be record that was created quite some time after the event had taken place, or by a person who did not actually witness the event. In the example of a marriage certificate, the document is issued at the time of marriage, so it would be considered to be a primary source for the marriage details. The certificate also states the dates of birth of the marriage partners. However these details are noted several decades after the births took place. So although the birth dates appear on the marriage certificate, the certificate would be considered a secondary source for this particular piece of information. A primary source for names and birth dates would be the original birth certificates.
In the end, it’s possible that one document can be both a primary and secondary source. Once you file it away I highly recommend making sure you consider it as both since each piece of information is present. This will allow you to come back to it when it’s needed for future reference. Plus, you will be able to save time and create a more reliable family tree.
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