>>> But, even the LDS quit trying to merge GEDCOMs into one lineage-linked >>> database because they faced too many "judgment calls". So we live with an >>> embarrassment of riches. >>> >> >> Cheryl- >> >> This comment isn't directed at you personally, <g> but 10 years ago when >> most of us did *all* our research in dusty, dimly lit courthouse basements or >> hunched over microfilm readers in a Family History Center spending many >> months to unravel ONE generation of one line of our ancestry, and snail mail >> was the about the only way to contact others with information on our >> ancestors, I think we'd have jumped at the chance to spend a few hours >> "online" in the comfort of our homes sorting through 12, 14, or even 20 >> GEDCOMs to see what documentation and sources are listed and what new >> "cousins" we can chat with to overcome obstacles and sort out what is >> accurate and what isn't. >> >> To sum it up...I think we've become spoiled. We want instant ancestors. I >> don't think we can ever have TOO MUCH information. >> >> Joan Please remember that all data you get off of the internet and from other secondary sources should be documented by returning to those dusty rooms :-) and obtaining the actual data. Then when well documented upload the corrected and documented data. Use the data from the internet and CD's as a tool to help you not as the end result. -- Sincerely, Jean Leeper jeanlee@harenet.net "Watch What You Say or Do, You Might Sell Your Parrot To The Town Gossip" Register Report: http://www.harenet.net/~jeanlee Every Name Index: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jeanlee Marion County IA Gen.Soc.: http://www.rootsweb.com/~iamcgs/Index.html Researching: WILMETH, HIGGOTT, THORNELOE, HALL, ERSKINE/MARRS, REISINGER & MCILVAINE ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0001_01C0B5C3.B34B98A0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Maybe it's a good time to post my "3 rules" again. = Loren P Meissner Genealogist Barbara Yancey Dore asks: Can a first cousin, once removed, ever return? -----Original Message----- From: Jean Leeper [mailto:jeanlee@harenet.net] Sent: Monday, March 26, 2001 3:57 AM To: RootsWeb-Help-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [RW-Help] World Connect and other data on-line [...] >> To sum it up...I think we've become spoiled. We want instant ancestors. I >> don't think we can ever have TOO MUCH information. >> >> Joan Please remember that all data you get off of the internet and from other secondary sources should be documented by returning to those dusty rooms [...] ------=_NextPart_000_0001_01C0B5C3.B34B98A0 Content-Type: text/plain; name="_Some Rules of Genealogy.txt" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="_Some Rules of Genealogy.txt" Here is a little essay that I wrote a couple of years ago. Later, when I = visited a cousin in Georgia, I realized that the "family seaweed" = mentioned in #1 below is really a "family Kudzu vine." The traditional = family tree was OK for up to a couple of hundred names, but now we = routinely go into the thousands. =3D Loren P Meissner Genealogist Barbara Yancey Dore asks:=20 Can a first cousin, once removed, ever return? Subject: A couple of observations Well, maybe 3. I have been searching family records for about 50 years, = and I started doing it on the computer about 1998. Here are some = observations that have occurred to me: 1. =3D =3D =3D There's no such thing as a "family tree." I might settle for "family ivy = vine" or "family seaweed." It goes up and down and in all directions: = parents and grandparents of your children's spouses go up; 3rd and 4th = cousins go back down, and their spouses go sideways, and the parents of = these go back up again. This is one reason for the popularity of computer genealogy. The = computer stores individuals and family groups. When you enter the data, = the computer links individuals to other individuals and to the family = groups that hold them together. The computer does not have a problem if = your grandmother and grandfather were first cousins: This just means = that there are now two links between these individuals - the original = link when they were born as cousins, and another link when they got = married. But the problem still remains: how can a person picture all of these = relationships? Some of the most important differences among the many = genealogy software products lie in their "reports" facilities: How can = you bring out a group of related individuals onto a sheet of paper (or = several sheets pasted together) in a way that persons - as contrasted = with computers - can understand and communicate to other persons? The = many different kinds of reports are attempts to represent these "family = seaweed" relationships on a flat surface in a way that persons can = understand. 2. =3D =3D =3D The question, "How did my great grandfather spell his middle name?" is = not as simple as you might think. The biggest problem is that your great = grandfather might not have known how to read and write. I recently read = a book that quotes studies of wills made in the USA before about 1800. = According to this book, about 80 percent of all wills were signed with = an X because the person making the will did not know how to write his or = her own name. There could be some bias here, of course: some folks who = knew how to write could have been too sick to sign their wills; but on = the other hand, a lot of the illiterate people did not make any will at = all. Two hundred years or more ago, there was no Webster's dictionary; many = words did not have a fixed spelling. I suspect that words were mainly = thought of as sounds rather than as written symbols. A word was its = sound, and the written symbol was only useful for remembering the sound. = Maybe your great grandfather would consider "How do you spell your = name?" to be a meaningless question. (I never spell it myself, I just = write an X. You can spell it any way you want. Just call me Hezekiah = when you speak to me.) We have heard that at Ellis Island immigrants were asked their names and = the immigration official wrote down something that approximated what he = heard. Apparently, some of the more literate immigrants were able to = correct the written version, because quite a lot of names turned out = quite close to the way they had been spelled in Europe. [Addendum Jun = 2000: A recent article states that Ellis Island officials usually got = the names from the ship's passenger list, and the immigrants changed = their names later.] Educated immigrants, as well as many of the descendants of aristocratic = families, were already keeping careful records well before the year = 1600. But on the American frontier the facilities for registering = births, deaths, and marriages were extremely rudimentary. There were no = county court houses. The only church was a circuit rider under a grove = of trees, who performed marriages and baptisms every few weeks when he = rode by. Grave markers were insubstantial pine boards. The situation has = improved tremendously in recent years, but the debate over the year 2000 = US Census reminds us that there are still pockets where problems exist. We should not be surprised to find that some ancestors didn't even spell = their own name the same way throughout their life. A lot of my uncles, = aunts, and grandparents changed the spellings of their names and added = middle names or initials. It was easy to do and nobody cared, until much = later when they went in the army or registered for Social Security or = otherwise got involved with some part of the government bureaucracy that = wanted to be able to identify them uniquely by their name (and other = data such as date and place of birth, or names of parents). Noah Webster's dictionary (1806) reflected the "new" idea that a word = should always be spelled the same way. Social Security (1935) and = registration requirements during World War II helped spread the idea = that everyone should have a fixed NAME, they should always use the same = name, and they should spell it the same way every time. To move into the = culture of the 20th century, everybody had to get an automobile driving = license, then a checking account, and then a credit card, all with the = same fixed name. Our children take all of this for granted. Nowadays a = baby can't leave the maternity ward without a Social Security number. 3. =3D =3D =3D Never believe anything you read (or hear). A place to start collecting = genealogical information, as we all know, is with Aunt Daisy - that is, = the matriarch (or patriarch) who remembers everything and is happy to = tell everybody about it. But Aunt Daisy doesn't always remember = correctly. Contemporary printed records are much better. Obituaries, for example. = But were you ever present while somebody dictated the facts for an = obituary just after a death? If so, you recognize that obituaries tend = to be thrown together without too much attention to accuracy. The person = who knows the facts best has just died, so what results is hearsay at = best, and is more likely based partly on some rather vague recollections = and conjectures. The same is true of tombstones and death certificates. After a little experience with genealogical searching, you begin to = realize that sometimes a person getting a marriage license doesn't even = remember exactly when he or she was born, much less how to spell Mom's = maiden name. I even found a mistake in the Social Security Death Index, stating a = death date about 6 months too early for a cousin of mine. And my mother = found out when she was about 50 years old that her birth record at the = County Court House listed her as a male. ANYTHING you collect should be taken as a starting point for further = research. The more independent sources you have, the more reliable your = data is likely to be. But you still have to guard against mistakes that = propagate from one record to another: Grandma's date of birth is wrong = in the Family Bible (or even at the County Court House), and it is = copied from there to her marriage license, her obituary, her tombstone, = and her death certificate. =3D =3D =3D Loren P. Meissner LPMeissner@msn.com ------=_NextPart_000_0001_01C0B5C3.B34B98A0--