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From: "Ken Nelson" <>
Subject: Re: TMG-L: Re: Sources - are we losing our way?
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 10:35:10 -0400
References: <a3.4349996.261b3576@aol.com>



----- Original Message -----
From: <>
> I am concerned that some people seem to be getting so bogged down
with
> sources that the main purpose of the exercise seems to be getting
lost. Does
> it really matter that I got a date of death for somebody from Auntie
Elsie,
> which may or may not be accurate? Do I really have to write down
Auntie Elsie
> as the source and wonder whether I should also involve Uncle Fred
who might
> have given the information to Auntie Elsie?
>
> As far as I am concerned I now have a clue from Auntie Elsie as to
the
> possible date of death. Now I know what I must do - I must go to
the
> relevant primary source, the death certificate, the will, the burial
> register, whatever is available to me. If I cannot find that primary
source I
> must record what I DO know (from Aunt Elsie), but the date of death
will
> remain suspect and dependant on a check of the primary source by me
or my
> reader some time in the future, just as it would have done if I
cited Auntie
> Elsie and Uncle Fred and a whole list of others. So why bother with
these
> mental contortions at all. The only proof is the official proof,
which may
> itself be wrong, but is the best we can get. What Auntie Elsie
told me
> doesn't matter to anybody. What is anybody else going to do with
the
> information that it was she who gave me the date of death? It's
pointless.
>

Brian,

What you are saying is absolutely true IF you have a lot of primary
source material--i.e. records.
There are several reasons for recording family stories and who told
them. Here, on this side of the pond at least, there is/was a time
when record keeping was meagre at best. In these cases, my only source
material may be Aunt Elsie or Uncle Fred. And they may not agree. And
I sure was not there so I cannot make the kind of judgement necesary
to say the on the 15 Feb of 1885 my grandfather James was born. It
could have been the 18th or it could have even been March for all I
know, but these are the stories I am being told and neither is more
"official" than the other.
As I write these words I am waiting for word from a researcher that
may shed some light on my maternal ancestry. My g-grandfather's name
was James Bray, was James Bray as well. He was originally from
Cornwall, born about 1835 (I have three dates so far). He came to
America was married and homesteaded in Nebraska. For those listening
in, the name Bray is a very common one in Cornwall and the name James
Bray is just as common. My Bray line were miners--often uneducated,
illiterate and prone to ignore the establishment. So they were not
written about, recorded in any histories, etc. They were not prominent
folks in any way except the numbers of children produced. <G> What I
know about many of them is by way of family traditions that are often
not in agreement with one another. Citing who I heard it from will
establish in my mind and in that of the reader which tradition is
being espoused. That is one reason for citing my family source.
Another reason is to hopefully establish at some point in time that we
are speaking of the same James Bray. Just recently, a researcher
posted a query about a line that might be mine. But he asserted in his
post that siblings of my James were here in America as well. This is
news to me!!. Is this really my James?
About 2 years ago another set of folks made some assertions about
lineage and when pressed for more details, quickly clammed up in
defense of their family tradition. Are we speaking of the same James
Bray. I do not know.
These two traditions are different in many way from the one I grew up
with. Two pieces of info that I grew up include the fact that we were
"somehow related to a famous English preacher." i.e. "Little Billy
Bray" No evidence of this relationship has been supported by my
research. Is it true??? The second article of dogma was that my
grandfather James Bray, the son of the James Bray in question often
spoke of his train ride "back East" (we lived in Eastern Nebraska) and
when pressed for details of his great trainride he proclaimed it was
to visit relatives out "near Peoria, Illinois." The other two
traditions have the family somewhat north and west of Peoria. How do I
reconcile all these differences? For now I am not. For now I am
telling the traditions and digging further. But i helps me to remember
how I have come by a particular piece of info to keep everything in
perspective.

By the way, in America in the 1870 census there were something like
over a hundred and fifty different people by the name James BRAY
indexed. Which James Bray is mine and why? I think I have found mine
in a town in Northern Michigan, but.....

I know you expected someone to come down hard on you and it probably
seems like I am, but especially when there are no official records it
is necessary to identify the unofficial ones we have.
Ken Nelson


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