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Archiver > QUAKER-ROOTS > 2000-09 > 0968772369


From: "Wilma" <>
Subject: [Q-R] lds information
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 08:26:09 -0700
References: <32ACAE3A2599D211A15700A0C9AB28C56A76FE@univ.westal.edu>


> Some Mormons are concerned with doing accurate research, but,
unfortunately,
> most are concerned with collecting names to do their temple work.
> Joyce A. Brannan
> Technical services librarian
> University of West Alabama
> Livingston, AL 35470
~~~~~~~
You will find that there are as many non LDS people that send their names
in, as those that belong to the church. I saw a woman ask how she
could slip her name in with a long line of PRATTS...she wasn't a Mormon,
we just shake our heads in dis-belief, gives us laughs at times, but the end
result is very serious.. and they don't understand what misgotten records
can do to a lineage. She wanted to belong to that family.. Her name was
PRATT..

Have you looked into www.ancesty.com or the records from WFT
etc? They all have the same problem, not enough time or thought in
some of those records by the people that send them in..Those of us what
volunteer in a LDS Famiy History Center have many stories to tell..

I think most people are wonderful and very careful about what they put
out there... but there is always the one that doesn't have the care or
knowledge or for that matter understand what genealogy is all about; they
want to be connected... I feel is our responsibility to teach them the
difference in finding names and proving names. I see this done several
times a day on these wonderful rootsweb sites... Especially this site.. it
is wonderful and everyone is so helpful.

In the LDS site www.familysearch.org you find a notation that says
this..

"Ancestral File is an collection of genealogy information taken from
pedigree charts and family group records, submitted to the Family
History Department since 1978. The information has not been verified
against any official records. Since the information in Ancestral Files
is contributed it is the responsiblity of those who use the file to verify
it's accuracy."

Does any one read pay any attention to what it says.. IT IS THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO USE THE FILE TO VERIFY IT'S ACCURACY...

Yet, people will be rude and complain about the accurcy of the file..
it is only as good as the person who sent the genealogy in!

A few months ago a man came in to our local FHC.. he said he was
fearful of how good the data was, he belongs to a rootsweb list..
and had been reading about the 'mormon names' as he put it...
how the names and records can't be depended on...

He not only left with a whole different attitude than the one he came
in with, but he left with his 3rd gr gm. He found her as a child in
a census.. then we took him to the ancestral files, explaining to him
that they were only as good as the persons knowledge that sent them
in...there he found a cousin he didn't know about. Turns out her 3rd
gr gm was also his 3rd gr gm.. the one he was looking for...... and yes,
she did have some dates wrong and some names mixed up..she didn't
have all of the childrens names, but between them over a week or so
they were able to get a family completed...and add a few genearations.

Without the effort of time and money that the LDS church put 's
into recording the names, places, dates, etc.. where would we be
in our research? Records from places most people would never
be able to find are there for our free use.. I for one feel a great
gratitude for the work of the LDS church... and to the people
who send in the names, like Joyce said, it is a good road map... and
how many of us have found our way to the end destination with new
grandparents.....from a name we have found in the ancestral files?


Wilma Fleming Haynes
Genealogy Consultant






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