I'm working on a family from 18th century Virginia. Some compilations on this family have directed to me to original records such as deeds and wills. However, in reviewing the conclusions that have been made from these materials, lifespans do not quite fit, people are having children at unusual ages, and people are signing legal documents before the age of majority.
It's time for me to put aside the compilations and conclusions that others have reached and work with the original materials from scratch. I'm thankful that the compilations directed me to a variety of original records, but I need to quit trying to make the documents fit the conclusions that others have made.
Could it be time for you to do that on a family as well?
Sounds like some compilers may have confused a father, son, uncle or cousin. Are you working on my family, because they were all John, William and Richard, married cousins with brothers named John, William and Richard :)
ReplyDeleteMust be a different family...mine didn't have any Richards ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. My blogpost this week covers my problems with the accepted genealogy (done in the 1970's) of the Wilcox branch of my family, and why I ended up disagreeing with The Book of Wilcox [if you want to, see http://jahcmft.blogspot.com/2014/10/52-ancestors-35-simon-1809-1904-wilcox.html]
ReplyDeleteI use other genealogies for a ideas and where to look, I used to use the Family books and go from there, but, when I found my Great-Grandparents Wedding Certificate at a local church, I stopped doing that because the book said they were married in Canada and here they were married in the United States. Now, I look for proof before I assume that the books are correct.
ReplyDeleteIt is so true. They many times did not have all the records that are available and assumed from what they did have. I am struggling correcting a tree on FamilySearch that had used a compiled book.
ReplyDeleteI found in a family book that my gggrandmother and her sister were married to each other's husbands! SO glad I had the lineage already before I saw that book. I would not have gotten far using their information.
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