At 10:28 AM 11/10/1999 -0500, Julia Christianson wrote: >Your post raises a another issue that's been nagging me ... back in the >days before computers, it was fairly easy to distinguish in one's >working papers between well-documented facts and undocumented >leads/speculation by using pencil, inserting a question mark (or 3) etc. >-- with computers this isn't so easy, and I think this is part of the >reason errors are rife on the internet. But I do want to enter these >undocumented people/events in my database to suggest future avenues for >research, and so forth. However, once they get in there it's hard to If one defines documentation as simply telling where you got the information, whether it is "Pend. Co. Marriages 1800, page 10," "family records kept by Aunt Minnie" or "Joe Bob's web page at www.joebob.com" then there is absolutely no reason not to document EVERY statement of fact and item entered into your database. If you genealogical software does not allow you to note specifically where you received what, then perhaps you should look for a method that does. The genealogical database I have used for 10+ years through several versions of DOS allowed me to place a number to the right of each line of info (birth, death, buried, etc.) and it was a simple matter in the notes/comments section to put lines that started with that number: 1) Tombstone in Oak Cemetery, Mytown, GA. More modern programs are much more sophisticated in handling footnotes, but either method accomplishes the same result--you can tell where you got the information. While automated databases are nice, if you truly want to include every tidbit you have and to be able to discuss everything with total flexibility, any word processor is the answer. The Hinkle data has always been in this format with different files for each colonial line. Granted, it is arranged by common ancestor and then uses the NGS modified numbering system. I also have an unidentified file which is arranged by geographic location. Thus, if someone asks about a Hinkle not identified in an established family, we can search by location for possible other information. I had a response that documentation of all facts is an ideal, not a practical reality. The current issue of the NGS Quarterly is devoted to documentation and should be read by everyone. IF you do not know where you acquired a name/date/link, how can you tell if it might be accurate? Or more accurate than mine? Historically, we have names of famous genealogists that invented not only dates and names, but entire English parishes so that their clients would be happy with the results. The old-timers on the list will remember when we used to have "he said" "she said" exchanges that accomplished nothing but filling up all of our in-boxes. We recently had another example. How many messages did we all read that said, "My info says Susie" while another person wrote "My info says Mary" (or whatever names were involved.) We never did learn why anyone believed their information was more correct than the others! <G> So many, many published books have mixed up the Pendleton County families badly!!! Especially Morton's History of Pendleton County. Unless you keep track, you will not know the right stuff from the wrong, Morton's from the original will books. A practical example--my data has Susie Smith born 1 Jan 1850 because her marriage record shows she was aged 22-2-2. You have her death certificate which shows she was born 28 Dec. 1849. Knowing the particulars, it is easy to speculate that perhaps this was her age when she obtained the license and not on her actual wedding day. We really do not have to debate the subject very long. Julia, I am sure this answered far more that you asked but did want to clarify. Many of you are just beginning and I guarantee within one year you will find an instance of saying "where did I get that date?" or spend hours in the library because you now want to photocopy the information and cannot remember which book "I think it was red and on this shelf!" <G> It is so hard to make a database spot blank when it was once filled, but if you want to be able to TRUST your genealogical database, you MUST include a source citation for everything there. Even if it is "www.joebob.com!" <G> Nedra Nedra Dickman Brill, Certified Genealogist brillnd@pacifier.com Historian, Henckel Family National Association Coordinator Pendleton County, WV, wvpendle-l@rootsweb.com CG is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license after periodic evaluations by the Board.