Genealogy - Do's & Don'ts

SparrowHawk · 21-11-2011 8:15pm #1

Hi All,

Starting to put some data together on the family - both my side & the missus. It had started out as a "family tree" exercise, but may be developing into something more in-depth - is there a difference between a family tree & genealogy?

Also are there any particular things I should watch out for e.g. read in another post that researching the living may not be that welcome - "Investigating a current generation isn’t genealogy it’s snooping." - I hadn't really considered that - can see the posters point though. Is it better to stay away from the living, & just deal with the dead?

Is there anything else I should be watching out for? Please excuse some basic questions - this has grown into something which was not foreseen.

Any help & guidance appreciated.

Many thanks in advance,

SparrowHawk

shanew · 21-11-2011 8:48pm

I'm sure there's an official definition of Genealogy, but would think the main difference is that a tree is often quite basic - just names and important dates and Genealogy would possibly go into more detail. I call it family history ..

I think the main DOs are get to as many of the primary sources you can (birth, marriage & death certs, parish films or registers, census returns etc), work back in time step by step proving each connection as you go, and keep notes

and the DONTs - dont believe all the family stories, sometimes they can have details mixed up (i.e. dates or generations crossed), so use these as starting point for research. Dont believe all the details in Published Trees (e.g. Ancestry), or on Submitted IGI records

The living people issue is more to do with privacy - if living branches of your tree give information then include it in your data.. just be careful about posting it online.

Shane

rhapsody · 21-11-2011 9:12pm

I would generally agree with Shane on the Dos and Donts, a few of my own would be:

- talk to as many family members as you can, especially the older ones. I've found it great for anecdotes which are nice when you're working in a very factual way with certs etc. It was tough at first because you cant just fire questions, more introduce a topic and let the people speak. I do this, usually with more than one family member so there can be a 'discussion', and then write EVERYTHING down.

- as Shane said, dont believe everything you're told but on the other side dont disbelieve it- I've found some unlikely (or so they seemed) stories to be surprisingly accurate! A pinch of salt I think.

- As you mentioned SparrowHawk, its probably a good idea to leave investigating the living alone, but also be aware that some things from long ago might upset your relatives. I was asked not to research a certain thing within one of my relative's lifetime. It didn't happen in her lifetime, but she still doesn't want it dealt with at all. (I dont put too much on line of course- I'm not sure she knows what 'online' is- she just doesn't want anyone, in or out of the family, to know).

- Dont get too disheartened if you hit brick walls, come here & ask questions!

shanew · 21-11-2011 10:02pm

Of course I forgot the most import Do 'talk to your family' - luckily rhapsody corrected that omission!

And as a follow on to that - when you've started to locate details, go back and talk to your family again at various stages. You'd be surprised how often these clues can trigger memories (sometimes quite detailed) in people, supposedly long forgotten.

Shane

rhapsody · 21-11-2011 11:54pm

shanew wrote: »

And as a follow on to that - when you've started to locate details, go back and talk to your family again at various stages. You'd be surprised how often these clues can trigger memories (sometimes quite detailed) in people, supposedly long forgotten.

True indeed, and they usually like hearing some more info on e.g. their parents. I think of it as a way of giving something back to them after they've dragged stuff up from memory for me

zagmund · 21-11-2011 11:56pm

+1 on the clues thing.

After talking to people you get the occasional hint about someone or something. You can use that to go back and refresh peoples minds. For example, someone might remember that one of his cousins was a teacher in Meath somewhere, but not sure of the details. Mentioning 'a teacher in Meath' to Uncle Joe might spark off a whole flow of information about a branch of the family he hadn't thought about in 30 or 40 years.

Also, summarise and restate data found, especially when talking to older generations. If they give you the name of 2 males and 1 female in a family, restate it and throw it back as "So, you had one aunt and two uncles in the Castlebar Byrnes, is that right ? And what did the daughter do ? Did they all stay in Castlebar ?"

Asking "did any of them have any children" will help to spark off remembrances of spouses, wedding locations, family homes, etc . . .

Treat any information obtained through word of mouth as possible/probable and don't regard it as fact unless there's evidence (birth certs, newspaper articles, etc . . .) to back it up. One of my sources from long ago was pretty accurate at most things, but he reported that two brothers in the family had married two sisters in another family (i.e two Murphys married two Smiths). According to the daughter of one of the families, this just plain wasn't the case and she should know. However my notes carried this as fact for the past 20 years.

On the 'living' thing - I would generally agree with the views above and wouldn't go digging too far into the details of people who are still alive. I've recorded facts such as date of birth, residence, education, spouse, children, etc . . . I have no first hand information on my grandparents generation, but as soon as my parents generation 'age out' I'll be recording my notes, gossip, etc . . . for the record. By that time *I* will be 'the older generation and reserve the right to peddle half truths to nosey youngsters who come poking their nose into the family records.

z

pinkypinky · 22-11-2011 10:35am

SparrowHawk wrote: »

Hi All,
Also are there any particular things I should watch out for e.g. read in another post that researching the living may not be that welcome - "Investigating a current generation isn’t genealogy it’s snooping." - I hadn't really considered that - can see the posters point though. Is it better to stay away from the living, & just deal with the dead?

I'm not sure I completely agree with that...but it's all about how you approach strangers who are distance relations. I write a letter by post introducing myself, explaining that I believe we're distantly related, give a small bit of detail and invite them to get in touch with me if they are interested. I've never had a negative response and have learned a good deal of otherwise unavailable information this way.

Dun · 22-11-2011 5:13pm

DO record exactly where you get every piece of information, it will help so much in the future.

DO record where a search was unsuccessful, e.g. searched Co. Donegal 1901 Census for Tweedle Dee and didn't find, and record along with your notes on the person. So then when you pick it up in x years time and see no info for the 1901 Census, you'll know you've already looked.

Genealogy software like Legacy or similar should help in recording this info.

SparrowHawk · 24-11-2011 8:20pm

Hi All,

thanks very much for all the advise & tips. I think that I'll go along with leaving the living well enough alone - aside from recording, but not sharing the info. I'm using a web based tool from here http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php called The Next Generation - it has an option to block access to living people which is quite useful.

In terms of sources of records - any suggestions for web based rsources? Have had a look at several paid for sites (not afraid to spend some money) but they all seem similiar,

Thanks all, again

shanew · 24-11-2011 8:47pm

I use the same TNG software - takes a bit of setting up, but very good.

In terms of sites to join it really depends on what type of details you are looking for - i.e. type of records (parish, civil BMDs, census, military, immigration etc), and which countries and regions

edit: If your research is in Ireland and you can make the occasional trip to the NLI, NAI or RCBL etc, then you possibly wouldn't need to pay for any websites...

Shane

blackquarry · 26-11-2011 5:30pm

Is there any general consensus on the quality of the various "genealogy" web sites? "geni.com" have a very poor print-out facility, whereas "myheritage.com" allow for an excellent booklet of data to be printed from your own workstation.

Genealogy - Do's & Don'ts

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