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Archiver > GEN-ITALIAN > 2001-01 > 0978442273


From: "Sabina" <>
Subject: Re: A Research Article
Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 08:31:13 -0500


Good morning, Carielee,
what a wonderful way to start the New Year and also my morning. Thank you
very much for the guidelines.
It was actually the reason why I personally got in touch with you yesterday
in the first place because I was so
disturbed by the childish prattle that went on on the Gen-Italian rootsweb
site. Again, this morning, my messages
were loaded with this 'bobbybats' junk' and I was again tempted to
unsubscribe.
But Michele advised yesterday a) to delete (which of course I did), and b)
to hang on in there - which I will do for
a while.
Again, a wonderful message and I hope everybody takes it to heart.
Sabina.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Carie Lee Albertini" <>
To: <>
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2001 6:11 AM
Subject: A Research Article


| Reprinted with permission of Roy Eastes (see end of
| message)
|
| Hi Everyone! Happy New Year!
|
| This suggestion is not only for new family history
| researchers but it also
| serves to jiggle the minds of us old timers too!
|
| Let's all make a resolution to help eliminate errors
| in our family history
|
| In December 1999, I wrote the following article to
| help increase the
| awareness of the many pitfalls found in genealogical
| resources. I am
| submitting this again to remind us all of our
| responsibilities toward
| perpetuating the truth and accuracy in our historical
| records.
|
|
| (Reprint)
|
| HOW ACCURATE ARE OUR
| RECORDS?
|
| By LeRoy
| F. Eastes
| 3
| December 1999
|
| When we record our heritage we take great pride in
| looking at our list of
| ancestors and admire their origins, migrations and
| accomplishments. But,
| what good is it - unless it's true?
|
| In recent years there are more and more genealogical
| assumptions and
| misleading information being circulated due the coming
| of the internet. I
| know most of it is unintentional, as I have found
| myself guilty of doing the
| same thing in the past. This innocent practice comes
| about by picking up
| information that is not documented or if it is we
| don't check the validity of
| the references. Then with all good intentions, we
| record it and pass it on
| not knowing if it is true or not!
|
| An element of error has always existed in genealogical
| research. If we look
| closely at public documents, errors have been found in
| almost every type of
| legal record that ever existed. Wills, marriage,
| birth, land, court and
| military records. Many times these are the results of
| human error but some
| have been intentionally induced for a variety of
| personal reasons.
|
| The coming of the internet has been a great boon for
| genealogical research.
| At the same time it's multiplying errors and is out of
| control like a
| contagious disease. There are many individuals and
| organizations that collect
| files from donors everywhere they can be found, which
| in itself is fine.
| Unfortunately, not all of these records are correct.
| Many do not show any
| documentation, others are found with misleading and
| often inaccurate
| information and references. Also unfortunately, some
| researchers are too
| eager to grab the first thing that "sounds reasonable"
| and treat it as a
| gospel fact. These records are copied by the unwary,
| passed on to an untold
| number of others, accepted as fact and the problem is
| perpetuated into the
| future.
| .
| There is nothing wrong with recording and passing
| along estimates of dates,
| places and even theories and stories. This is where we
| find the key elements
| that lead to the true picture of the past. However,
| information of this
| nature must be recognized and treated as such by all
| of us.
|
| This is a very serious problem and recognized by the
| National Genealogical
| Society. They felt it to so important they published a
| Special Edition to
| their quarterly publication, titled, "Evidence" -
| Volume 87, 3 September
| 1999.
|
| The following are the Standards recommend by the
| Society and can be found on
| the internet at -
|
| http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/
|
| (I suggest everyone take a look at
| Consumer Relations while
| on this site)
|
| Standards For Sound Genealogical
| Research
| (Recommended by the National
| Genealogical Society)
|
| Remembering always that they are engaged in a quest
| for truth, family history
| researchers consistently -
|
| - record the source for each item of
| information they collect.
|
| - test every hypothesis or theory against
| credible evidence, and
| reject those that are not supported by the
| evidence.
|
| - seek original records, or reproduced images
| of them when there is
| reasonable assurance they have not been
| altered, as the basis for
| their
| research conclusions.
|
| - use compilations, communications and
| published works, whether
| paper
| or electronic, primarily for their value as
| guides to locating the
| original records.
|
| - state something as a fact only when it is
| supported by convincing
| evidence, and identify the evidence when
| communicating the fact to
| others.
|
| - limit with words like "probable" or
| "possible" any statement that
| is
| based on less than convincing evidence, and
| state the reasons for
| concluding that it is probable or possible.
|
| - avoid misleading other researchers by either
| intentionally or
| carelessly distributing or publishing
| inaccurate information.
|
| - state carefully and honestly the results of
| their own research, and
| acknowledge all use of others work.
|
| - recognize the collegial nature of genealogical
| research by making
| their work available to others through
| publication, or by placing
| copies
| in appropriate libraries or repositories, and
| by welcoming critical
| comment.
|
| - consider with open minds new evidence or the
| comments of others on
| their work and the conclusions they have
| reached.
|
| ©1997 by National Genealogical Society.
| Permission is granted to copy
| or publish this material provided it is reproduced in
| its entirety, including
| this notice
|
| This is followed by two more sections titled:
|
| - Standards for Using Records Repositories And
| Libraries.
| - Standards For Use Of Technology In Genealogical
| Research.
|
| I encourage everyone to consider these guide lines.
| All of us who are
| searching for our ancestors should make an attempt to
| minimize the
| possibility of errors. If we don't, our children's
| children will be led down
| false trails and they will never be able to find their
| true heritage.
|
| Le Roy F. Eastes Ph (228)
| 832-2214
|
| 17271 Lowery Rd
| Gulfport, MS 39503
|
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
| When we record our heritage we take great pride in
| looking at our list of
| ancestors and admire their origins, migrations and
| accomplishments. But,
| what good is it - unless it's true?
|
| We need stories and rumors, they are great and often
| lead to the truth!
| BUT - Help eliminate errors. Don't take anything as
| Fact! Check references
| for validity! If we don't our children's children will
| be led down false
| trails and they will never be able to find their true
| heritage.
|
|
|
| <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
| >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
|
| Hi -
| I would be happy for you to pass this message along to
| others and ask them to
| also pass it along! Many people don't realize the
| impact it has on future
| records when they collect unfounded data and pass
| along to Companies who sell
| undocumented information.
|
| Best Regards
|
| Roy Eastes, Gulfport, MS
|
|
| __________________________________________________
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