-----Original Message----- From: Sandi Gorin [mailto:sgorin@glasgow-ky.com] Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2000 6:37 AM To: KYRESEARCH@rootsweb.com Subject: TIP 274 - THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COMPUTER GENEALOGY TIP #274: THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COMPUTER GENEALOGY Ah computers. What a wonderful way to work on one's genealogy! How much faster than handwriting or typing out family sheets and pedigree charts. Now software programs let you plug in the information in a zip, hook all the families together, calculate ages ... all those things we used to slave over by the hours. Then, there is the internet. Seemingly thousands of new cousins sprouting up all over the place; people you may never have found without those internet searches. What a blessing! And oh, those wonderful gedcoms and genealogy sites. One could spend an entire day surfing the web, in total awe that there is someone actually working on the same surname as we! And there ... they have solved your entire family tree all the way back to Adam and Eve. You excitedly accept their data, with our without documentation, to be the gospel truth and settle back totally content that finally, you can move on to another line that had been giving you trouble. Whoa! Imagine for just a split second that the person who had taken your pedigree back through all the royal households; tied you in with every president of the United States; and even shown your coat of arms - was wrong? What if they got their information from another gencom that was in error? What if it came from "crazy aunt Lizzie" who had dreams of grandeur of being related to all the famous people, or who got all of her dates and data wrong? But wait you say! I can't get to all the libraries clear across the country or visit the courthouses on the other coast? This is my ONLY way of getting the data, what am I to do? Well, we've all been there, believe me. Unless we have unlimited resources and can hop a jet to London, Paris, Germany; or even driven thousands of miles .... we all know! Here it is being handed to us on the proverbial silver platter and we can finally give our grandkids their family tree, hoping they will appreciate it in later years. What else can be do? I for one DO search all the web sites and gedcoms. I often print off the findings of this long unknown cousin or aunt and uncle and then I start dissecting them. 1 - is there a name and email of the submitter than I can write to and seek documentation or offer corrections? 2 - Does the data they have dovetail closely with what I have with a few minor details different that between I have that I can work out? 3 - Have they given their sources that are in the public domain? If so, can you write for a copy of some of the records from county clerks to verify the information? Maybe this was a different George Rogers Clark who was named for the famous Clark??? Is this the same Eisenhower family that I know to be part of our immediate family line, or a contemporary unrelated? What if there is NO documentation? Then I take it with a grain of salt and put it in a file of hopeful possibilities. What if there are drastic differences between the information shown and what I have worked on for years? Then is the time to put a big question mark on it and put it in a "to be investigated" file. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water on all the information you have already accumulated thinking that they must know best because they have it on a web site! What if I cannot get paper documentation? Then, I don't use it as an "official" record. I might cite the information and stress that "I cannot confirm the following information." But ... I've found that one has to be careful with even doing that as once it is in print, people do exactly what we shouldn't do --- take it as Gospel. A favorite pastor of mine did a small book on his family tree and prefaced the findings with the words: "How it might have been by someone who wasn't there." In conclusion, be careful on mass acceptance of all the data we find. I have found glaring errors within family lines by those who sincerely had found THE missing puzzles. Some of this came from the DAR, SAR or family members. But after being thrilled with the findings later realized that "this just can't be" ... I know that Marcellus was a Presbyterian minister because his name is on the church documents complete with his photograph! Robert could not have been a hero of the Spanish American War - I have a picture from the local newspaper of his hanging on the courthouse lawn! So whether we do our genealogy the old fashioned way by paper and pen in musty courthouses, or with the speed of transmission via the internet - the rules are the same. Question, prove, disprove, keep and throw out. (c) Copyright 13 Jan 2000, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Colonel Sandi Gorin 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 or E-fax (707)222-1210 Member Glasgow-Barren County Chamber of Commerce Gorin Genealogical Publishing: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl GORIN FAMILY WEBSITE: http://www.myfamily.com/home/home.asp