Fact vs. Fiction? 

or Documentation?

Remember, when trying to create an accurate family tree, people may have given misinformation for a variety of reasons.

If you have done any research on your ancestors, it's likely you have already run across mistakes, not only in family histories but also in official documents.  It's understandable that human error occurs, such as a wrong date in a family Bible or on a tombstone.  But what about when a person purposely gives wrong information.  What could be their motivation?

Here are some of the reasons I have found:

Birth 

1.  A husband is listed on the birth record because the couple was married, but the child was fathered by another man.

2.  An unmarried woman gives birth to a child and later her parents claim the child as their child rather than as a grandchild.

3.  A stepchild is raised by a step parent, and although never legally adopted, the child uses the surname  

4.  An incestuous relationship occurred, a child is born, and the mother is sworn to secrecy.  

Incorrect Age

1.  A person reports himself as older in order to engage in an activity that requires a specific age.  This could be joining the military, marrying, voting, driving, smoking, drinking alcohol etc.  We know there is still a market for fake identifications.

2.  A person wants to appear younger for vanity purposes.  I knew a woman who lied about her age for years.  When she became eligible for Social Security benefits, she had a very hard time proving her age, since all her documents showed a later date of birth.

3.  Many documents rely on the statement of the people themselves when recording their ages, without verification.  This is true of census reports and other documents.  Or when a person dies, the person giving the information for the death certificate may or may not have correct information.  The same incorrect information for birth or death might also be engraved on a tombstone.  

Information to Obtain Benefits

1.  Military pension applications - Some soldiers and/or their widows wanted to obtain a regular government benefit for their service.  Some people lied about their service.  

2.  Land Grants - in the past, free land has been offered by the governement  with certain stipulations.  Early grants were made, even before the Revolutionary War, if people made certain promises.  In many cases they were required to settle on the land, grow a crop, or other requirements.  Later land grants were offered in lieu of pay for military service.  And later still, there were grants to people who could prove their Native American heritage.

Use of an Alternate Name

1.  As mentioned above, a person may assume the name of a step parent

2.  A person may be trying to hide themselves from people, the law or past activities

Remarrying without a Divorce

1.  Occasionally a person may erroneously believe that they are a widow or widower.  They may have been given misinformation, or simply believe after several years their spouse died.

2.  Sometimes when people remarried they said they were widowed because they were deserted and couldn't locate their spouse to get a divorce.

You may be able to think of other examples, so try to collect as many sources as possible to find the truth when you create your family tree.

 

      When Do Family Stories become Fact?

Does the constant retelling of  family stories make them more believable?

There is an old fable about some blind men coming upon an elephant and trying to learn what the elephant was like by touching different parts of his body. Each blind man felt a different part of the elephant's body, and then described the elephant based on their experiences. Each description differed from the others. 

This fable illustrates we claim truth based on our limited and subjective experiences. 

We all have bits and pieces of our family history stored in our brains.  Some are experiences we had as children within our families; some are family stories told by parents and relatives or information printed as family history.

Before the Internet made documents available online, it was difficult to find documentation of events or people without making trips to court houses or visiting cemeteries. People relied on the memories of relatives to piece together their family history.

One common problem is the names we call our relatives.  When my mother, my daughter and I were all alive, we were all grandmothers.  I called my mother Mom, but my children called her Grandma.  When I became a grandmother my grandchildren called me Grandma but they also called my Mom Grandma.  When I was young, I only had 2 living grandmothers, but although I had living great aunts, I only called them Aunts as my parents did.

In one family story, a grandson had reported many years ago that his grandfather served in the Revolutionary War.  It was assumed that this was his grandfather, when in fact, it was his great grandfather. 

Confusion exists in family stories when two people, such as a father and son, share a given name.   Other family stories get confused when reporting the family's heritage or ethnicity.  There seems to have been a fad in the early 20th century with people claiming Native American ancestry.  My father said his grandfather told him that they were one quarter Indian.  Research and now DNA has shown that that is not true.  We know the recent flap about Elizabeth Warren and her family's story that she had Native American heritage, and it ended up being incorrect.

There is also confusion when remembering that someone talked about the "old country" where the ancestors lived.  Later we may wonder whether that Irish or Italian ancestor was on the mother or father's side.

There are also the family cover-ups when someone brought shame on the family.  I've often heard "We just don't talk about that."  This was particularly true when woman had a child without being married to the father.  In many cases, the grandparents of the child claimed the child as their own.  Quite often the family perpetuated the story.  I have seen obituaries naming grandchildren as children, rather than grandchildren, of the deceased.   Some children were taken into families and assumed that name without being legally adopted.

I was just researching about a person who people have claimed to be a full-blooded Indian or half Indian.  The information has been "out there" for at least 25 years, but never documented. in 1995 a person said "I have obtained a copy of The Descendants of Nicholas Cain 1736-1986 by Wayne R Cain, now deceased and Shirley J Evans. On page 168 of the Cain book it states (the person in question) is an Algonquin Indian, either Half or full blood."

Twenty five years later, people now claim this book as "documentation".

I could go on and on about shattered myths and family stories, but they abound.  DNA has become the "lie detector" of genealogical research. DNA does a good job of deciding who was NOT your ancestor.

Some people want verification and documentation while others are happy with family stories.  People who want royalty or Native Americans in their ancestry may not be interested in accuracy.  Using a fake name is not illegal unless you are trying to defraud someone.  A volunteer at a research center told my husband, "As long as you are not trying to join the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution), you can claim to have a Revolutionary War ancestor."  We kind of chuckled at his remark, but it does speak to tolerance in allowing people to find some kind of pleasure in their family stories - true or false.  

How Do I Create a Family Tree?

 Questions to Ask and Answer Before you Begin your Family Tree 

How much time will it take?

That's an easy question because as with any hobby, you can spend as much or as little time as you want.  You can spend a lifetime and still find new information, or you can make it a hobby that you "dabble' in on occasion.  

There will always be new information to add to your tree when people are born, marry or die.  If you just want a record of names, birth dates, marriages and deaths, your job will be easy and probably boring.  Those deceased ancestors will wait for you to discover their stories.  As someone once said to me, "Those dead folks aren't going anywhere."  

Exploring their stories will keep you interested and excited to look for more.  At a minimum and a starting point, gather as much of the "boring" vital statistics for your direct ancestors and record that information.  This should include full name, any nicknames, date and location of birth, date and location of marriages, any divorces, date and location of death and burial.  To extend this base, you might add siblings and children or not. I thought it was silly for Mom to record siblings until I later realized that their information often provided new information for my direct ancestors.

What should I do with the information after I gather it?  

Before the advent of the computer, people had various ways to record and file their information, but it always involved paper.  Handwritten notes, notebooks full of information or charts of family lineages.  

My mother began the hunt for ancestors many years ago and kept it all in spiral notebooks.  There are now many offline computer software programs where you can manually record your data.  Many years later, I am still reviewing and recording my mother's information into my computer program.  

What Computer program is best

Computer programs can be purchased, but there are several free ones available also. Some programs will interface with online sites and some will not.  Most programs allow you to create GEDcoms. This is a way to share your data online or via Email with others. 

I would recommend looking at several programs to see what you think will work best for you. Many online sites allow you to enter information online and then download a GEDcom to open in your offline program.  However, if you only store your data online, that company can increase their cost to be a member or close down entirely.  That has happened to me.  So don't neglect storing your records offline - a reminder to myself. 

Can I share my information easily and should I?

Once personal computers and the digital world became available, we experienced whole new options of saving, storing or sharing family trees.  But people are still trying to answer the question of how and where to store their information to make it usable and/or availabe to others.  Ancestry, Family Search, WeRelate, WikiTree, MyHeritage and many other online sites are available to share your data with others.  Paid sites (such as Ancestry and MyHeritage) allow you to better control your information than sites that allow others to work on your tree such as Family Search, WeRelate and WikiTree.  Be very cautious what you share online because once you add your information to a site owned by someone else, that site "owns" your information.  

What about Privacy Issues?

Think about what is in your offline tree before you share with others privately or online.  Who are the people who will be using it, and is there private information that should not be shared? 

My desire is to share my information freely to help others who share my ancestors. There is always the hope that by sharing I will find another descendant who can also help complete my puzzles.

There is always the concern about how people will use or transmit your information.  For example, I often add dates, explanations and identification when I post a photo. Ancestry, for example, has a way for another user to simply click save and the photo along with any notes are saved to that user's tree.  Yet countless times people have downloaded my photos to their computers without the identification information, and then reloaded only the photo to their trees.  I'm not sure why they do this?  I posted one photo with an explanation of why I was uncertain that it was the correct person.  Then I saw it on another person's tree without the explanation.  I asked him about the photo. He said it was on his computer; his computer crashed so that was why.  I wasn't sure if that explanation made sense?  Also, because the person manually posted the photo, it showed up in my "hints" as if it were a new photo.

One more issue.  A GEDcom may include your notes or other information that you might not put on a public family tree.  I shared a GEDcom with a cousin years ago.  He opted to upload it to his online public family tree, notes and all. He died suddenly.  As the owner of that tree, he was the only one who could make changes or delete the tree.  This was over 20 years ago, but I think that tree is still floating around the Internet.  I'm glad he took the credit and not me.

Should I write a book?  

Some decide to publish their family history. But when and how?  

The when is difficult if you are not sure you have all the information correct and also if you feel you need to gather more information to complete your family history.    

The how is another issue. Do you pay to print a hard copy, or do you create in digital format?  Do you make it public online for others to view and copy, or share privately?  

Several years ago, I decided to create and publish a hard copy for my parents, siblings, children and grandchildren.  Determining how to present the information was the biggest challenge.  I wanted to offer the family stories but also show how and where descendants fit into the family story.  I finally opted to put the lineage trees in as an appendix and use the main chapters to tell stories I had discovered about our ancestors.  I started with a chapter on "Faith of our Fathers" since we had a long history of ancestors who were ministers.  Then I used a timeline, starting with our first ancestors coming to America and continuing through history.  

As you get to "know" your ancestors, you are bound to find interesting events in their lives that you will want to share - with whom and how will be your choice.

Should You Trust Information in Books or on Websites?

What to Believe?

Creating a family tree is an enjoyable hobby, but fun turns to frustration when the tree is missing ancestors or information. 

There's an old saying that if something is in print, it must be true.  But how does this work in creating our family's history?

Older books are often thought to be more accurate because they were written closer to when the  ancestors lived, but not all authors documented their work. Even books containing transcriptions of records, court actions, military muster rolls, census reports, tax records or church records can contain errors.  These can be "honest errors" due to misreading of the information from the original documents, poor handwriting, original transcription errors by a clerk, or deterioration of the original records, making them difficult to read.

Contacting family members might yield old photos, family records, or even family stories. Visits to court houses or cemeteries can provide additional information. Some might seek answers through DNA testing, while others try to complete their family tree through information shared by strangers on the internet or through publications. The challenge comes in determining the validity of the information gathered.

Most people would like their family history to include exciting events, historical figures or even royalty. Reporting that one's ancestor was born a certain place, married, had children, was a farmer, then died, does not make for an exciting story. Family histories may be embellished or simply repeat what a person has been told by relatives.But if books or websites contain only family history with no sources, then one must find facts to back up the stories-  or always be in doubt.

At times. companies have offered paid subscriptions to family history books, with the purchasers able to create their own family histories with no editing and with varying degrees of accuracy.  This is called "vanity publishing", and no one wants to write about the "black sheep" in the family, particularly if they are paying to publish the family history.

If you plan to pass on your family's history to future generations, find sources to backup and document what you have found online, in books, in records or from your family's storytellers.  Be the accurate keeper your family's story. 

Common Problems in Researching Early Ancestors

 Problems we all Face in Research

 1. In the past, ladies of the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) and gentlemen of the SAR (Sons of the American Revolution) were diligent, often way too diligent, about trying to match themselves up with a Revolutionary War ancestor, a necessary requirement to become a member. In many cases, there are two or three different lineages all claiming the SAME Revolutionary War ancestor.

2. A Name and a Location do not establish a relationship. In the 1700's you can find very common English given names such as Thomas, John, William, Richard, Samuel, Michael, Charles etc. and those names were repeated into the following generations. So to assume one Thomas is the SAME Thomas found later, is a stretch, without documentation. Another common practice is to assume if a person is found in one generation with a name, such as Michael, that the next generation Michael belongs to the same line. Maybe yes and maybe no. There were certain patterns that SOME people followed such as naming children for the grandfather, uncle etc. but this wasn't always true. Sometimes the children of with a certain name died, and someone by that name might be a cousin born about the same time. There are cases of re-naming a later child for a prior deceased child. So names do not establish relationships, and since families traveled together - uncles, cousins, fathers, sons and in-laws, there's usually not enough information to make a compelling case with an isolated name and location. 

3. There was no federal census report until 1790. The Maryland and Pennsylvania lists exist for that year, but the Virginia ones do not. The 1790 census only names the head of the household, and for males, only shows those over and under age 16. Not much help in identifying people, although the location can help IF there is other information about that person in the same location, and hopefully there was only one person with that name. No names of other household members are listed until the 1850 census. So from 1790 until 1850 we only have the head of the household named, and the age range. In 1800 for example, the head of household is usually the person listed as age 26 to 45 or 'over 45', so the over 45 could be born 1755 or much earlier, and the 26 to 45 person could have been born from 1755 to 1774 - not an exact science, allowing for a lot of guessing.

4. Tax lists can be helpful, particularly if there are several years available. If a person appears in tax lists and the census, that's usually an indication of settlement in an area. Of course many tax lists are missing. The ideal list is one found in Pennsylvania in 1814 that shows name, age, occupation, but that is rare. Usually, the lists will show the county, township, whether the person owns horses, cattle and other livestock and sometimes if the person owns land. Again with duplication of names, it's hard to decide if there were two different Johns over time, such as a father and then a son, or the same John.

5. Fortunately, there were people who were dedicated to research from documents before the Internet. The Internet is a blessing and a curse. Footnote has original documents scanned, particularly the Revolutionary War pension applications, muster rolls, etc. Ancestry has the census reports and more and more books with listings. So, those 2 sources of copies of original documents are helpful in research, but both require paid membership to search.  Google Books has many old history books on line, but consider if there is documentation included or if they are just family histories.

6. LDS records, Ancestry family trees, and trees posted on the Internet have produced many half-truths and misconceptions. Some records are partly true, or true to a point, but then people have stretched a name or an event based on a theory or a guess. I have no problems with theories, just don't post them on the Internet - or- be sure to state that it's unproven or there is no documentation. We have a case of one of our long deceased cousins who posted some information on the internet a long time ago. Some of it is wrong, but he's gone, so no one can change his posting. That's the type of problem the Internet produces for us.

A convincing lineage cannot be built with 'research' that is undocumented.