DPS-SYDNEY-L Archives

From: "Phil Young" <>
Subject: Sources
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2000 11:04:38 +1100

Hi gang,

So the topic is Sauces, and how to use them. <g> Here are a few of my
thoughts on the topic.

I've got to admit that my documenting of research sources is inadequate, for
I do not give it the attention that it deserves, which means that years
later I have no idea where I got some information from. Documentation of
Sources is essential when there is uncertainty about a particular ancestor
or other key person in your family tree, especially if there are multiple
dates, multiple parents etc being supplied by various researchers. Each
conflicting argument then needs to be recorded in full.

Use the power of your family history program to record them and to ensure
easy access to them. For some databases this means using the highly
structured database style of sourcing (Parsons(?) I think is excellent in
this regard), with UFT I think still providing levels of confidence for many
categories of data.

A new approach that I have started using to sourcing is to scan as many
possible original documents and make those scanned documents linked to each
person in the database. This means that if I'm off to the library a long
way from home <grin> then I've got all my source documents available on
screen. For example, if I need to check exactly what the 1851 census said
about family, I can immediately look at the original document, rather than
simply having a reference number to that census which means that to look at
the original document I'd have to order the film at a LDS centre, etc.

How do you do this, some of you ask. You need either: (1) a digital camera
($500-$2,000), or (2) a regular camera which has close-up focusing
capability, and then subsequently scan the photo, or (3) simply a scanner
which you can insert the original or photocopy of the document. Scanners
are now a budget-priced consumer item, with many in the $200-$400 range. My
advice is to get a USB scanner if your computer supports USB. USB gives
much easier connections than parallel and other forms of connections.

Cheers,

Phil Young
Salt Lake City



> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Graham [mailto:]
> Sent: Saturday, 4 November 2000 1:31 PM
> To:
> Subject: November Meeting
>
>
>
> The November meeting of the Sydney DPS will be held next
> Saturday (11th) at
> Rumsey, commencing at 1.30.
>
> The topic for the day will be "Sources - the how and why of
> recording them"
>
> Hope you can all make it.
>
> John
>
> John Graham
>
> GENEALOGY FROM GERRINGONG - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~johngrah/
>
> SYDNEY DPS - http://www.ozemail.com.au/~johngrah/dps.html
> (home of the "Herald" and "Telegraph" Death Indexes)
>
>
>
>
> ==== DPS-SYDNEY Mailing List ====
> Sydney DPS Web Site is at http://www.ozemail.com.au/~johngrah/dps.html
> Check the indexes to Sydney newspaper deaths and obituaries.
>
>

This thread:

• Sources by "Phil Young" <>