How to Evaluate Genealogy
Documents
Contributed by Lisa South,
Certified Genealogist“I have three
different birth dates for my grandfather. He told
me when he was born; I have a delayed birth
certificate; and a baptismal record for him. Each
has a different birth year—now what?”
Conflicting sources are a continual
problem when doing genealogical research. How do
you know which one is accurate? Sometimes an error
is so blatant that you can immediately determine
which is the more accurate document. But often it
is not that cut and dried. When we do find
conflicting information, we should evaluate the
sources by using a scientific
approach.
Each document should be
evaluated on the following criteria:
1. Is the document an original or a
copy? An original is the first copy of
any document. A photocopy of the original is
usually considered an original. Each time a
document is hand copied the chance of error is
greater. Be especially aware of compiled indexes.
Historically these where hand-created, and often
error prone.
2. Is the information
primary evidence or secondary evidence?
Primary evidence is the testimony
(oral or written) given by an eyewitness or
recorded by mechanical device present at the
event. Secondary evidence is information that is
either not the result of personal observation or
is collected significantly after the fact. A vital
record, such as a birth certificate, would usually
be considered a primary source. The parent giving
you information about their children would usually
be a primary source. There are always exceptions
that you need to consider. Is the parent elderly
and is his/her memory questionable? In this case
they might need to be considered a secondary
source. Other examples of secondary sources are
tombstones and census records.
3. Does
the document contain direct or circumstantial
evidence of the information you are
seeking?Direct evidence is information
that directly answers a question. Circumstantial
evidence gives a logical inference from which an
answer might be derived. For example, if you are
looking for the birth date of your ancestor, Ohso
Elusive - and you find a church baptismal record
that says he was born on January 12, 1876, the
document directly answers your question. Ohso was
born on Jan. 12, 1876. If, on the other hand, you
find a death certificate that says Ohso Elusive
died March 15, 1948 at the age of 72, you have a
document that gives you direct evidence of his
death date but circumstantial evidence of his
birth date
Naturally, the ideal document
would be an original record from a primary source
with direct evidence, but genealogists usually are
not that lucky. After evaluating each of the
conflicting documents using the scientific
approach, the document that comes closest to the
ideal is probably your most accurate. Of course we
could still have erroneous information, so if and
when you locate additional records, you should
always compare it to your current information and
evaluate the information once more.
Using a
scientific approach to our research gives us the
greatest chance of accuracy, which should be the
goal of every genealogist.
OneGreatFamily
makes it easy to find differences between your
information and that entered by others. The system
marks differences in information as conflicts. You
can turn on or off the identification of conflicts
in the Genealogy Browser by toggling the
appropriate button in the tool bar: The first
(
) shows conflicts in information, like
perhaps a difference in a birth place or a death
date. The second (
) shows conflicts in relationships,
like perhaps not showing a 2nd wife or listing an
additional child. When trying to decide between
the alternatives, you can now apply these
principals of documentation quality in deciding
which you believe to be correct.
