User:Jrich

Research

I have placed some summarizing charts of my research areas at User:Jrich/Ahnentafel.

Genealogy in print and film

One of my favorite genealogical references in the movies come from the movie Amistad.

First, Joseph Cinque says that he will ask his ancestors to help him, and they must, because... "For, at this moment, I am the only reason they have existed at all." [Descendant-oriented]

Later, John Quincy Adams is staring at a statue of his father John Adams, and says, "We've long resisted asking you for guidance. Perhaps we've feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality, that we so revere, is not our own." [Ancestor-oriented]

An excellent book with genealogical overtones is "The Voyage" by Philip Caputo, a novel about a woman investigating three teenage brothers, one her grandfather, whose father sent them away on a sailboat voyage to brave the Atlantic Ocean on their own.

Sources

Sources Are Required in a Collaborative Effort Such as WeRelate

In WeRelate, we are collaborating with people we don't know. This means you cannot expect other people to simply take your word for something. Since no living persons should be entered, it is likely neither person has personal knowledge of the target being documented, or at best, it is so long ago as to be rendered questionable by the failings of normal human memory. So providing good sources is the only way of "proving" what we assert. Presenting data on a WeRelate page is like trying a case in court, where you must marshal evidence to prove your case, and disprove the other case(s).

People that do not provide the sources for the data they input are not helping the process of collaboration. Somebody that looks at a page with no sources is not helped. Furthermore, it sets an example that encourages others to follow the same lazy, self-centered genealogy practices. Sources are needed to justify each fact: birth, marriage, death, both the date and the location. A good source is not just a website, or even a book, that asserts something - though sometimes that is the best we can do. Even when done by a respected genealogist, an assertion still leaves us unable to assess the credibility of the assertion, and judge it against other possibilities. It is necessary to know why the fact is asserted. This usually requires a reference to a contemporary document, such as a will, church records, vital records, a diary, a newspaper, etc. Often, multiple sources are needed for each fact when discrepancies arise.

People that do not provide sources should not be surprised if their data gets changed without consultation or respect. It will be impossible for people merging duplicates to have any clue why their data value should be preserved. Without sources, it becomes too easy to assume somebody misidentified the person, or made a typo, etc. Only by providing sources, can one show that there is actually reason for believing the facts they have presented.

Collaboration is a Process, Not an Immediate Result

It seems to me that the process of identifying sources at WeRelate is the same process as dealing with the genealogical data: collaboration. Meaning that expecting sources to only look mature, polished and complete is unreasonable. Instead, just like the data they support, they are often part of an immature research project. But such work can still give a base to build on. For that reason, I don't think any source or data should be removed simply because it fails to met somebody's idea of a good source, unless that person has a better-quality source to contribute. Merely recognize that situation for what it is: early in the process. If it bothers you, make it better, but don't disrespect the work somebody did getting that far. It is often the result of years of searching even to find poor sources for some facts, but this very iffy piece of data may be all some other researcher needs to then find good sources, and solidify the toehold. If you remove the bottom rungs of the ladder, only a tall person can start climbing to the top.

I believe the key is to crowd out bad genealogy with good genealogy, not simply to remove bad genealogy. Removing the bad stuff simply paves the way for somebody else to come along and reenter it.

The most important thing in identifying sources, is to let other people find them. Unfortunately, it is hard to say there is a standard way of doing this. There are multiple styles of bibliography. A recent search I did yielded six major styles, and that list didn't mention Elizabeth Shown Mills, which seems to be the accepted style used by many genealogists. Most of these styles have much more ambitious agendas than simply making it possible to locate that source and inspect it. I think too many people get hung up on dotting the i's and crossing the t's, without regard to the very small percentage of times these issues make a difference. And when it does make a difference, I suspect collaboration will make sure that an entry has the i's dotted and the t's crossed. This is not arguing for sloppiness and inaccuracy. It is only suggesting more tolerance for less than perfect work, if said work meets the minimum standard of identifying the source so another person can find it. If not, then collaborate, by improving it.

Distinguishing People: A Suggestion to WeRelate Users

After many months of adding pages where I try to ensure I am not creating duplicate pages, out of exasperation, I would like to humbly suggest that users should try not to create a page where the only information displayed is the name of the person. Relationships help (though they in turn are just names), but dates and locations are critical for identifying a person. If you don't have information beyond the name, my opinion is that the proper thing to do is not to create a page for that person. This is particularly true if all or part of the person's name is Unknown. There is no reason to create a page for Mary Unknown, unless you need to store a birth date, death date, or some other fact that distinguishes this Mary Unknown from the literally millions of other Mary Unknowns.

A page with only a name matches too many searches, when the person found is not even remotely of interest, and is an impediment to other researchers. It is frustrating to be searching for, say, John and Jane Doe in colonial times, and have to scan 4 or 5 pages named this, often following links two or more generations away to determine dates and locations, only to find out the page titled John and Jane Doe are modern people living nowhere near the area of interest. If the page even had a estimated marriage date, or a location, chances are it could have been ruled out from the search page with no digging. Taking the time to add such distinguishing information is merely being considerate of others who will be looking at the page you create.

For example, if you have a marriage with a date, create the Family page. But do not create the Person page for the husband and wife unless you have some information that needs to go there. If you know somebody's parents' names, but nothing else, do not create the Family page, merely note the relationship in the notes on the child's page, and leave it for another researcher to create a robust Family page.