Yay David for your contribution to this topic and your suggestion re: enhancing FH. Sent from Gayle's iPhone > On 24 Dec 2015, at 6:00 PM, family-historian-users-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Evidence (ancestry@faulder.org.uk) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2015 13:52:11 +0000 > From: "ancestry@faulder.org.uk" <ancestry@faulder.org.uk> > Subject: [FHU] Evidence > To: FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <567AA70B.1000601@faulder.org.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed > > I have attempted to follow the postings about Primary/Secondary Evidence > and wonder whether we are getting distracted from what we really need to > know - the reliability of the data. > > The fact that FH source assessment offers the following options only > clouds the issue: > > * Unreliable > * Questionable > * Secondary Evidence > * Primary Evidence > > A source can be primary and unreliable! > > From an historical perspective I was taught that primary refers to > "first capture" and that it is usually a good idea to try and get back > to the first capture. > > So in reading about the First World War (UK perspective), the unit > war diaries (WO95 at the UK National Archives) are "primary". They > are written - usually by the Unit Intelligence Officer or by his > clerk and then initialled by the IO - usually within a day of the > events described. Front-line unit diaries are often hand-written. > They describe what the IO /thought happened/. He would have been > close to the action. > > Unit Histories - or the Extensive Official Histories - are usually > secondary being based on a collation of primary sources after the > event. The Author was probably not there, but is still describing > what /he thought happened/ - with hindsight and the benefit of other > sources - but also subject to group think and unconscious (even > conscious) bias. > > Which of the two is most reliable - likely to record /what actually > happened/? > > So in a genealogical context, > > * the primary evidence of birth is probably the entry in the birth > register signed by the informant (usually a parent) - but I think in > the UK there are mid-wives (or other NHS) records that are more a > "first capture". > * the primary evidence of marriage is the entry in the marriage > register signed by the couple and their witnesses > * the primary evidence of death is probably the medical certificate > certifying death the entry in the death register (signed by the > informant) might be considered secondary because the registrar will > only prepare an entry on production of the medical certificate by > the informant. > > So whilst a date and place of birth on a death certificate is useful, it > is probably good practice to try to get back to the birth certificate as > /we would expect it to be more reliable/. (My father was born in > Hampstead - per birth certificate; the registrar for his death > certificate said this had to be recorded as Camden! I think I reported > his date of birth correctly.) > > Perhaps we should look to see FH split the "source assessment" - which > is actually a "source assessment" in the context of a "fact" - into two: > > * Unreliable > * Questionable > * Believed reliable > * [user defined?] > > and > > * Secondary Evidence > * Primary Evidence > > David > > > > ------------------------------ > > To contact the FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS list administrator, send an email to > FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-admin@rootsweb.com. > > To post a message to the FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS mailing list, send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS@rootsweb.com. > > __________________________________________________________ > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com > with the word "unsubscribe" without the quotes in the subject and the body of the > email with no additional text. > > > End of FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS Digest, Vol 10, Issue 289 > *******************************************************