This is great advice, because I, like a lot of others I'm sure, learned this well after I'd been compiling family information (especially online).  One technique I like to use  while conducting research online is to first open a blank email, address it to myself, and then while I'm researching, I copy and paste the address of the websites I visit or make note of other directions to where ever I find information.  At the end of my session, I email it to myself (and go to bed!) and I have a record.  This way, if I forget to put a notation with the correct ancestor, I can look it back up. Michelle ________________________________ From: Mike Boyd <mikejboyd@bigpond.com> To: Bill Boyd <wtb2@bellsouth.net>; BOYD-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thu, March 31, 2011 5:37:12 PM Subject: [BOYD] Citing each "bit" of information on your Boyd tree Bill With the groups effort we will get to find who Robert, Hugh, Joseph and James parents are!!  Hopefully sooner than later. TO OTHER LIST MEMBERS You always need to cite where you get you material from.  We all get old and forget the source of bits of the details of own family. So if it is from a book cite the full title; or a published article; website.  Even it is verbal advice from aunty Mable and uncle Tom, cite the date place and whom you were speaking to and perhaps how they information was recorded - taking notes of talk or a recording.  This will become important at some future time when someone is trying to "resolve" a conflict in information. I have seen many things written about the Boyds in books that are not correct.  So all you can do is say "according to XYZ" such and such is said.  You or future researchers of your family may be able to find data that supports that statement or disproves the statement. SO REMEMBER - TO HELP YOUR SELF IN YOUR OLD AGE - WRITE DOWN THE SOURCE OF ALL INFORMATION. Thank you Mike Boyd Historical Committee, HBS   ----- Original Message -----   From: Bill Boyd   To: Mike Boyd ; BOYD-L@rootsweb.com   Sent: Thursday, March 31, 2011 11:36 PM   Subject: Boyds in Virginia   Mike and all,   I never expected the kind of response that that I have received about my Boyd family in Virginia.  Thank you all.  Sometimes all you have to do is ask.    An important and hardest part of genealogical research is being able to prove the facts.  That is the part that I am working on.  I have collected my information from a lot of sources and some without citations.  I believe that my basic tree is solid.  Some of the branches need proving.    An example of this is with my Grandfather.  His Certificate of Death, information provided by my Father, states that his middle name is Dallas.  No where other than that certificate does his name appear as Dallas.  Even his World War I draft registration, personally signed by him, says William Dee Boyd. He was known by all of his friends and family as Dee or Poppa Dee.  I have requested a copy of his birth certificate from the Commonwealth of Virginia and they cannot find a record.  That is just one reason why I need to personally go to those records and search for myself.  An interesting conflict.  That’s what makes it interesting.   It is not fact until it is proven.  The information that I provide without citations or proof is just a clue or a starting place to get to the fact.  Thank you all for the comments and suggestions.  Let’s see if we can resolve some of the differences and prove the facts.   Thank you   Bill Boyd

If you have other ways/methods to cite your information please tell the list. Each of us have our own ways to remember where information comes from. For our "newer" members - and perhaps for those older ones as well - start up a FILE call "sources" or "database" where you can put tips for citing or where you can get information from. Thank you Mike Boyd Historical Committee, HBS ----- Original Message ----- From: Michelle Ligon To: Mike Boyd ; Bill Boyd ; BOYD-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Friday, April 01, 2011 11:10 AM Subject: Re: [BOYD] Citing each "bit" of information on your Boyd tree This is great advice, because I, like a lot of others I'm sure, learned this well after I'd been compiling family information (especially online). One technique I like to use while conducting research online is to first open a blank email, address it to myself, and then while I'm researching, I copy and paste the address of the websites I visit or make note of other directions to where ever I find information. At the end of my session, I email it to myself (and go to bed!) and I have a record. This way, if I forget to put a notation with the correct ancestor, I can look it back up. Michelle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------