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Archiver > TMG > 2002-06 > 1023077367


From: Frank Peters <>
Subject: Re: [TMG] Place of death
Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 23:09:27 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
In-Reply-To: <000701c20aa9$e0f61690$60440142@master>


On Sun, 2 Jun 2002, Cliff Soderback wrote:

> > I have to disagree. My grandmother has only one record of her birth. Her
> > aunts Bible. I saw it only once in my lifetime and sourced it in TMG. If
> I
> > had not, and did not pass that information down, no one would have any
> proof
> > that she was born on that date. Just because a record isn't public
> knowledge
> > doesn't mean we shouldn't use it. What if you sourced a deed, and then
> the
> > courthouse burned down, would you remove that source?
> > Teresa Ghee Elliott

...

> To me, it is a waste of time to source something that no one can
> verify, in legal terms it is hearsay.

This makes no real sense to me. Should she forget that she found any
indication of her grandmother's birth data? Or record it but make no note
of where she found it?

Genealogical research is more analogous to an investigation than a trial.
Criminal investigators record hearsay evidence all of the time...because
it may provide clues (or merely insights) that lead to other, better,
evidence that can then be used in a trial.

Frank Peters
Starkville, Mississippi

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