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Archiver > TMG > 2000-05 > 0957230016


From: Richard Brogger <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] Re: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems
Date: Mon, 01 May 2000 20:13:36 -0500
References: <7B3D67AA81EBD111AC4000A0C96B23F7067F927E@orsmsx32.jf.intel.com>


Hi David,

If I were to receive your file, would I see two dates and would I be
able to learn why two birthdates are listed? If so, then I think you
are right. If it means a lot to me, I will spend the time and money to
find the true date. The man that pays the fiddler, calls the tune. You
might want to spend you time and money on nailing down some other event.

If I get a copy of a file and every BMDB is documented six ways to
Sunday, great. But, I know of a women, now long deceased, that recorded
every event that occured in her branch of her extended family and did so
in great detail and with great accuracy. If she had conflicting data,
she said so and gave her opinion why one was probably correct. She did
not have one tiny shred of documentation but her records are a
geneaologist's dream. Many events, such as a home birth, include the
date, the time, and the location is down to which bedroom in the house
and that the bed was the one made by. . .

I spent three weeks in ND tracking down proof for one event because I
wanted to. I have events that are my best guess and I will not spend a
dollar for proof because I really don't care. If someone else can take
my file and use it to help them obtain proof, the is all I am shooting
for. There is big difference between "Grandma was born on" and "Grandma
always said her birthday was". All I ask is the you let me know in some
fashion where you got the date so that I can judge its' accuracy.

Richard Brogger

Grawrock David wrote:
>
> The idea that I learned the most from Evidence was the evaluation of a
> source. The fun only starts when you have a document in front of you. Asking
> those questions of who did it, when they did it, why they did it and what
> axe they have to grind is where "real" genealogy starts.
>
> I have two dates for my grandmother. One date is a public record made at the
> time of her birth, the other date comes from the rest of her life where she
> celebrated another day. For now I have no way to resolve this problem.
>
> The question I ask now is should I spend effort in resolving this problem.
> It doesn't change any real genealogical issues, 3 days in 1911 will not make
> a difference, her parents remain the same etc. I am currently just marking
> the discrepancy and moving on, but is that right?
>
> David
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mills [mailto:]
> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 12:46 PM
> To:
> Subject: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems
>
> > 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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