Genealogy without documentation is mythology.
There is a saying among professional realtors that success depends on location, location, location. There is a similar mantra among professional genealogists that successful research depends on documentation, documentation, documentation. In my opinion, it is the quality of documentation of each statement of fact that separates the “name gatherers” from the genealogists. I would rather have only 500 people in my database for which I have a reliable source and the document to back it up than to have 5000 individuals of the same surname for which I have no sources. In my book, it’s quality over quantity.
I would rather have a source, almost any source, than no source at all. If you got the information about your father’s birth from aunt Myrtle, say that’s where you got it. If she’s still around, I can ask her where she got the information. If she’s not, maybe Uncle Will can substantiate the event. If the family elders aren’t available to support statements about an event, from their personal knowledge, what other sources may corroborate the story about an event? Was there a birth announcement in the local newspaper? Was a record made of a religious ceremony near the time of his birth? Did Dad’s parents give the school census taker information about his birth?
I know I said I’d rather have almost any source, than no source at all. That’s not entirely true. I don’t know how many times I’ve searched a published on-line family tree to learn than the poster got the information from the John Doe gedcom, or even worse, the Mary Douglass gedcom. I haven’t yet posted any information directly to the “worldwide web.” But somebody, somewhere, got hold of a letter I sent a cousin who shared it with a correspondent who just had to publish the information without my footnotes. Arrgh!
I prefer to have an original record created at or near the time of the event, but am satisfied with a photocopy of it. And on that document I write what official created it and the location of the document now. For example, I received by mail this week, the marriage bond for George P. Douglass and his second wife, Delitha Delaney Hogue. I had requested this document from the Randolph County Arkansas County Clerk. It is a photocopy of page 147 from Marriage Book 5. In the top margin of the page I typed in Randolph County Marriage Book 5:147, County Clerk’s Office, Pocahontas, Arkansas. Now everyone I send a copy of this document knows exactly where I found it and can evaluate the information for themselves. That’s the purpose of documentation. Without its source, how can I determine if the information is accurate or relevant to my need?
My two cents’ worth,
Mary Douglass
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