Using Record Sources Not Another Online Tree as Evidence

One of the advantages of people’s online public trees is that they can be helpful for folks like me who had very little information about a family line. My Lee family line has been a challenge and other people’s family trees have provided clues, records, and photos that I have used to guide to me as I searched for record sources to verify the information. Over fifteen years ago when I began my genealogy journey I had very little information on my grandmother Alice Lee’s family line. The only name that I ever knew my father’s mother by was “Granny Eley.” When I asked Granny her real name, she wouldn’t tell me, so I grew up never knowing her Lee/Meadows family. Thankfully my sister Ruby the oldest of the eight children knew about the family.

The information for my great grandfather William Alfred Lee was provided by my sister Ruby. Ruby gave me his name, place of birth in Alabama, his wife’s name, where they were married and who married them, and that they migrated from Alabama to Jackson Parish, Louisiana. This information was a great help in getting me started in researching the Lee line, but I was stumped when trying to link William Alfred to his father. William was supposedly born in 1847 but he wasn’t found on the 1850 census.

When I chose an online tree, I looked for errors and inconsistencies in the trees. I did not want to use a tree that had errors and inconsistencies in it. William A. was listed with his mother and his siblings on the 1860 Tallapoosa County, Alabama census. I later found out William Alfred Lee was born in Oct 1850 after the enumeration date May 1 for the 1850 census. I analyzed every record source for William Alfred Lee to make sure the names, date, and location were valid before adding him to my tree. I used those sources that backed up the information for my ancestor. Now, I know that the information is accurate (as it possibly can be) for my great grandfather.  Online trees provided the name of William’s father and there were record sources with them, so I used those records and researched until I was confident this was the correct ancestor.

Genealogists at one time or another have come across an online family tree with our ancestor in it and when we look at the tree the only source is another family tree. Family trees are not a valid source. What you are looking for is evidence or facts for an ancestor. A valid record source is one that supports the facts such as a birth certificate, marriage license, death certificate. You take the record source and analyze it to see if it is relevant to a particular ancestor that you are researching. You continue to collect sources for that ancestor and analyze them to see if it supports or contradicts the other sources. You are working to prove this person is your ancestor. You are looking for evidence of facts and information to support your research for your ancestor.

It is so much easier to just copy an ancestor and his family than it is to search for records and carefully review each record for proof, making sure the evidence from the record supports all the other information about the ancestor. If you think about it, another family tree doesn’t support any facts or evidence. The ancestor in the other person’s family tree may not be your ancestor. That is the reason for researching and finding record sources and analyzing them to prove that this is your ancestor.

Genealogy is about collaborating. Most genealogists share their trees on a public site. The information collected and shared in an online tree is valuable to other researchers. I am happy to share the information in my tree with others and I have worked diligently to make sure the information in my tree is verified with record sources. Whatever database you choose to share your family tree on it is your responsibility as a researcher to make sure the information you are collecting and sharing is accurate.

Keep in mind that an online family tree without sources is only to be used as a guide for further research. Search for record sources that prove the information and use those record sources to cite the information in your tree. You should ask yourself is the proof a valid record and not a compiled record, family book, or story, etc. Are the dates making sense that are listed in the tree? Are the children’s ages such that the person listed as a wife is too young to have children those ages?

Our goal is to have a family tree with record sources to prove the names, dates, locations, etc. in our family trees. If we all work diligently and use valid record sources as evidence in researching our ancestors, then cite the information in our trees with those record sources, the genealogy community will be better benefited due to our efforts.

Dr. Margaret Mead, 1901-1978
half-length portrait, facing right reading a book.
Library of Congress