Hi,
I just wanted to put my two cents in and offer some suggestions. First, I
do believe that online databases are fantastic ... IF they provide enough
facts that someone could determine at least when and where they were. I
imagine you all have been to tons of pages with no dates, places, notes or
sources - me I just skip em and go on to another link somewhere because I
can't even tell what century this individual is. We are working very hard
to provide at least a residence and a circa date on every individual in our
database.
As for NOT PROVEN info - I try to say just exactly that in the first line
of my NOTEs section of the record that appears online. I love to use
PERPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE: and then cite chapter and verse of why I think
so followed by why not (if I know anything) or what else might be needed.
Also I like to list conflicts like census record ages or even various
sources (books usually) that are conflicting about the same person.
Believe me I pulled out a lot of hair and much made gray over the conflicts
regarding HARRISONs until I came up with this fairly simple solution.
We have a policy to cite all sources online for our info. Isn't that how
you help people to find their own roots? Isn't that also how you judge the
quality of the info? If you found this genealogical extraction from a
book, then you are obliged to cite the book else you are claiming you
derived all this info yourself and violating copyrights. I doubt seriously
that anyone did all that research alone ... yet I see so many pages on the
net with no sources. disappointed.
By putting our database online, it has opened the door for so many lost
souls and helped us to straighten out many lines because we all work
together to solve the discrepancies and dig for original documents that
help sway the case to the most likely solution. That really is the beauty
of the internet.
I had a vision in 1980 that the internet would be the modern tool of
genealogical research. We can lay on the table openly for anyone
interested to see what we know and what we wish we knew. Let's get on with
the problems and solve them together. Now we can communicate at lightning
speed so why not use it help focus our energy on the real problems.
Newbies beware - DO NOT trust your ancestry to a book, an internet page or
just because somebody says so. There are tons of DAR "proven" lines that
are incorrect and one of the reasons the DAR decided just to start over
several years ago. To prove your line you need original documents.
Period. The sources mentioned above will help you to find those documents.
becky
We've come a long way - but we can do even better.
Becky Bass Bonner Email: [email protected]
Home of the *HARRISON* Repository
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep/
WWW: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep OR http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~harrisonrep
Data Managed by me and my mom Josephine Lindsay Bass ([email protected])