Steve: I agree that there are many problems in the Ancestral File(by the way, I have the whole Family Search in my home as a field tester). However, if you go to the source persons that are listed you can usually communicate with them. If the address is not a good one, if you will write to that person, and leave the letter unaddressed but with their name on it, the Church will send it on to them so they have the option to return an answer to you. If there are family members that are living, the church will try to get a contact that they can forward it to if you ask them to in a letter that you enclose. In the IGI however the source is listed and you can check the original film with the document listed on the film. I have submitted a lot to the LDS church. The last update on the AF listed my last address and I called too late to have it changed. However people are still reaching me. They are trying hard to clean up the Ancestral File. If you see problems on it, it is up to you to sit down at a computer and make the changes at yourr local LDS Library. I don't know how many problems I have seen on it but I am seeing a lot of corrections and they are noted on the AF. They tell who changed and when the record was changed. It was the old records particularly that were entered on AF by volunteers that were the culprits. Now everyone has to submit on disk. So there are still problems if someone puts in the wrong material. Just thought I would put in my 2 cents worth. I agree I don't trust anyones records but my own. IF I get someone elses I use it as a guideline to check, unless they have good documentation. Helene ---------- > From: Steven Gary Perkins <sperky@pcpros.net> > To: perkins-l@rootsweb.com > Subject: Perk-pedigree posted 6/7 > Date: Wednesday, June 11, 1997 4:05 PM > > I posted my line, and heard from Paula Mortensen, a name many may be > familiar with. She descends from the immigrant John & Judith (Gater) Perkins. > > The question pertained to John(2) and Elizabeth Eveleth, and the source of > her last name. No one has located a primary source document that verifies > Elizabeth's maiden name. This note should clarify that, and point out that > though we all try to get primary sources, it's not possible in all cases. > Much we gather is from be secondary source. Technically, anything you get > from another without a cited primary source, or a copy of it, is secondary. > When it comes to proving, it's having the citation of the source to know > it exists, or having a copy of it. > > I have copies of wills, but to tell you information from it without citing > the book and page number, and location of the probate record it came from, > is secondary sourced information. > > Eveleth comes from an LDS ancestral file. LDS files and IGI records are > "very" secondary, and sometimes heresay. Elizabeth's maiden name has also > been said to possibly be "Weatley" or "Wheatley". It's unproven either way > with a primary source. Most people's software program allows one to make > extensive notations about sources. I suggest to everyone, this, though > time consuming, is invaluable. Six months later, someone will inquire > where the date, or the name, ect was obtained, and you won't remember. > > Always qualify what's unproven. I think I just did. > > Happy hunting! > Steve Perkins ------------------------------