Joan, There are a ton of exceptions. I never suggested simply "Joan told me," although I do have helpful clues with no more than "Joan's word." Perhaps Joan sent me a court document, a tombstone photo, etc. Maybe Joan copied some microfilm and sent it to me. Maybe Joan's grandmother's birth date isn't recorded anywhere, but Joan's grandmother told her and she shared with me. Maybe Joan had an old deed from a court house that burned. Maybe she had a letter her grandfather wrote her. Maybe Joan saw an old cemetery that was later destroyed and told me about it. Perhaps Joan translated something and gave me a copy. Maybe she had some information whose source she lost. If I don't put down Joan's name, I'm not going to know where I got my information. Maybe Joan shared some family lore which I backed up with some other documentation. Of course I'm going to go to the primary source where I can, but if Joan sent me a copy of the primary source, what would be my source? It would be Joan PLUS the source since I didn't retrieve it myself. Point is, facts are WORTHLESS without knowing where they came from. Maybe Joan sent me some photocopies from a book. If I just simply wrote down "Joan," and found something that disagreed with it, I could write Joan and find out if she made an error. If I wrote down nothing, I might not know where to look. Debbie Let's take a look at facts. Facts are names, dates, places...and how do you know those names, dates and places? There has to be something supporting them other than just "Joan told me." If I'm going to use a name, date, or place in my research I will want to find the names and places on a census, in a document, or some record--not just "Joan told me." If Joan did tell you the facts then she got them from some document--and that is what your actual source needs to be--after you check that record, of course. The one exception to this would be if you are quoting from a family Bible that is in Joan's possession and you and other don't have access to it--there would be nothing wrong with stating that the following data comes from a family Bible in the possession of Joan. That would be entirely acceptable.