Using Other People's Research and Family Information

Information from family members and other people's research can be wonderful resources, if used with care.

In fact, gathering information about the family from other relatives is one of the first steps for a researcher starting work on a family line.  It is from relatives that we glean the personalities of ancestors, family stories, traditions, and other pieces of information not available from source documents.  These stories can enrich our understanding of our families and give us vital clues to help us with our research.  And they help us make connections with our distant cousins and extended families.

But it is also true that such stories and pieces of information can often have errors or be only partly true.  And simply accepting another person's research without reviewing it carefully, leads to errors being enshrined and repeated.  This is one reason I seldom use other family trees found on-line at places like Ancestry or Family Search.  Because some people accept those trees without critical review, the errors in them are repeated and spread exponentially.  When I do look at one of these trees, I check first to see if they've included any sources.  Many times, the only source is another on-line family tree.  Error upon error upon error continuing to spread.

Another issue that I have encountered over the years is people using others' research without giving credit.   I've been researching for many years and have always made it a point to share my findings with anyone who is interested.  I'm happy to do it.  But it is a bit disconcerting to find my work copied word for word and posted on-line without any acknowledgement of where the information came from.  I try hard to always cite my sources and always acknowledge the contributions of others.  If I quote someone, I make it clear that it is taken from another researcher's work.  If someone has been particularly helpful, I thank them and acknowledge their contribution.  There are many examples of this throughout my blog. 

When I share my research with others, I include my sources.  This allows them to analyze my data and determine for themselves if it seems valid to them.  It also acknowledges the portions of the information that came from other researchers' work.  It is important to give credit to the person doing the work.  It also allows others to contact the original researcher, if they want to.

When I get information from a family member or another researcher shares their data with me, I create a source citation that includes the name of the person who provided the data, their address and/or email, the date I got the information, etc.  If there are no sources cited in the data, I note that, too, and incorporate a reminder that I should consider the information as simply a CLUE to be confirmed.

If there are sources included, I am careful to note each source in the citation for each fact.  So, for example, the citation in my database might be:  Braden Family Data by John Smith, 1234 Main St., Leesburg, Virginia.  Email: JohnQSmith@someprovider.com  Received 7 Feb 2014.  But perhaps he cited the 1860 Loudoun Co., Virginia census for Noble Braden's residence.  In my source citation for Noble's residence, I would add the notation that John had cited the 1860 Loudoun Co. census.  That allows me to try to find and check the original source.

How I handle information from other individuals actually varies quite a bit depending on a number of things.  If it is a line I have done a lot of work on, like the Braden line, for example, I look to see if the information gives me anything new or any clues to pursue that I hadn't noticed before.  If so, I incorporate those items into my database.  If not, I simply create the appropriate source citation, give it a number, and file it.

One thing I like to do even when I don't add everything to my database, is to add the line that leads to the relative who provided the data.  So perhaps the other researcher and I share common great-grandparents.  I add at least the basic information from those great-grandparents to the individual who is the source of that family data.


If it is a line that I have not done much work on yet, then I am more likely to add the researcher's information to my database.  Doing so gives me a framework of information to start reviewing and confirming.  As mentioned above, I consider all of this as simply CLUES until I confirm it with primary evidence.

Sometimes even unsourced research or family history data is very, very good.  I have several pieces of research on the Bradens and the Jenners that has no sources listed, and that I don't even know for sure who the writer was.  However, most of that research has checked out against primary source documents as being true, so I give more credence to those items than I would usually do to such undocumented information.

And finally, there are those family stories.  They are intriguing.  But are they true?  I wrote about one such family story, the claim of the Jenners family being descended from the "Earl of Peterborough," in my blog post about Middle Names.  This story provided a clue, though it doesn't seem to have been literally true.

There are lots of such stories.  Some seem to be the stuff of genealogical legend:  "There were three brothers who came to America from ....."  Maybe true.  Maybe not.

Another story from the Braden line was that Burr Braden had 100 slaves and was a ship owner whose ships were burned by the British in the War of 1812.  And that Burr set those 100 slaves free.  As is true of many of these stories, there is a kernel of truth that has been embellished over time.  Looking at this one, for example, Burr was born in 1802, so he would have been 10 years old in 1812.  Not likely that he was a ship owner, then.  But, his father Robert operated a company in Alexandria that imported dry goods called "Braden Morgan & Co."  I've found references to ships involved in that import business.  I've not yet found any proof that the British burned those ships, but there is indeed an indication that Burr's father had involvement with shipping.  And about those slaves: Burr did not own any that we know of.  His father, Robert, owned a few (maybe a dozen) but certainly not 100.  However, Robert did indeed set them free in his will with the condition that they emigrate to Haiti or Liberia once they were freed.  So, a kernel of truth embellished over time.  Clues to pursue, but not to accept as whole cloth.

I look at data from other researchers, family stories, and information from other family members as very valuable to my research.  I don't, however, accept it as fact.  These things provide important clues to help me track down primary documents that confirm or disprove what has been shared.  They are pieces of the puzzle, but not the complete picture.