Ah, yes – the name game. Growing up, I heard many names mentioned
about people and never really thought of how they relate to me, if at all,
until in my later years in the service.
How many times do we remember a name and try to piece together the
relationship? Many times names are
recycled through the generations. With
the advent of the internet, a plethora of names cascades off the webpages such
as Ancestry.com, Fold3, FamilySearch, and
others. Our job as genealogists is to
sift through the names and generations to see where the people fit in our
ancestral or correlative puzzle.
Unfortunately, the above named websites, particularly Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, contain much bogus information in the form of mis-keyed entries.
As
a “baby” genealogist I ordered Family Tree Maker 2005 software and I searched
for my ancestor, William Barker and came up with several hundred thousand
hits. By the time I finished merging
trees, the poor man had15 wives and several hundred kids. I knew he was born in the 1840s and had one
wife. In extreme frustration, I deleted
my great-great grandfather from existence (and yet, I’m still here) and started
over. The story illustrates important
points – start with yourself and work back, don’t rely on the internet for all
information, and use a variety of records from the courts, libraries,
historical societies plus other reputable sources.
In
order to prove each event in our ancestors lives, each record must be cited and
verified by cross-referencing with other records. What do I mean? For example, my ancestor William Barker
entered into this world 6 January 1842, Millwood Township, Guernsey County,
Ohio. The event is precise, but no birth
records were kept in Ohio until the late 1860s.
How can it be cross-referenced?
Using a death certificate from the Ohio Department of Health or perhaps
a probate record from the court. I
obtained the death certificate that gives his birth date, trouble is the birth
is secondary. I checked the probate
court and there is no probate records for William.
Another
way to cross-reference is to use the 1880 census. The 1880 census gives relationships and an
approximate year of birth. Actually, the
more censuses used the better, even if no relationships are stated. Land records can be used as well because of
the transference of property, in addition to a marriage being written into the
record. Tombstone photos in cemeteries
will help.
