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Archiver > TMG > 2000-05 > 0957226057


From: Bud Dorr <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] Re: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems
Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 20:07:37 -0400
References: <7B3D67AA81EBD111AC4000A0C96B23F7067F927D@orsmsx32.jf.intel.com> <001901bfb392$4afaa2c0$47da8ad1@casper> <001d01bfb3a5$e8023de0$ef500a3f@1pka7>


And how! I've done a lot of French-Acadian work and found that numerous
researchers have used the same bogus information iteratively until its original
source is obscured. Anyone who has occasioned to research original handwritten
records a couple hundred years old with fading ink in the stilted prose of that
era knows how capricious these "vital records" are. Add to this the complication
of interpretation by a town clerk who then types the interpreted information
onto a form, slaps on a seal and mails it out. I've found death records the
worst, because the information is given to an official by often bereaved family
members who may not really know the exact dates of past events or perhaps the
official misunderstands some information. Names can be misspelled easily. I
chased Mary Longley for years based on a death record only to find another
record giving Lydia Longley. The name of a sister of the deceased was placed in
the location where his mother's name was supposed to go!

Bud Dorr

Mills wrote:
>
> > That may be but there are errors on vital records.
>
> Cheri makes an incredibly important point with the above statement. Since
> the thread of this is "Beginner's Problems," it's germane to say that
> Cheri's point may very well be the most important thing a beginner needs to
> know about genealogy. Lawrence of Arabia wasn't a whole lot off the mark
> with his statement "All records lie," and we put ourselves at great risk if
> we trust any one source -- be it a record or person. Yes, we drastically
> slow the pace of our "progress" when we decide to search out every possible
> record each forebear might have left, as well as records created by
> collateral kin. But finding every relevant document and weighing each
> against the other to determine where the truth most-likely lies is the only
> way to ensure that we aren't "progressing" in the wrong direction. Probably
> everybody on this list who's been doing genealogy more than a couple of
> years has tales to share with "beginners" about those "former ancestors" on
> whom we spent oodles of time and boo-coodles of money!
>
> Elizabeth Shown Mills
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