Genealogy Sources

Page Updated on November 24, 2007

Before you begin collecting information, think about why you are collecting the information. If you simply want to make a nice page in a scrapbook showing your child's immediate ancestry (i.e. parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents), you don't need to do much heavy duty research. You can just talk to some relatives to find out where your great-grandma was born. If you want to do a study of your family history, though, you'll need to do a bit more investigative work.

For your family tree to be considered as a reputable source of information, you need to document the sources of information you used to compile your family tree. (Most beginners skip this and have to back track later, which is considerably more difficult than just doing it right in the first place.) Even if you don't plan on publishing your work, think about future generations. Imagine your great-grandson, while rummaging through the attic, discovers your genealogy research and decides to follow in your footsteps. First of all, your sources would help him find information much faster than if he had no sources to go on at all. Plus, perhaps he may want to publish his work, and wants to use your work as a source. If your research doesn't have documentation, it won't be considered a reputable source and his work won't be taken seriously. Documentation is also important if you decide to share your information with other people you may be related to in order to verify that both of your family trees indeed link together. (Just because you both have someone named John Smith who was married to a Mary Brown during the late 1800's doesn't mean that your John and Mary are the same John and Mary of your potential relative. Many people had the same name, and coincidences do occur.)

Primary Sources

Primary sources are considered the most reliable sources for information. A primary source is someone who has first-hand knowledge of an experience or event or an official record for an event witnessed by someone who has first-hand knowledge. Examples of primary sources include:

• An interview with a family member talking about his/her life would be a primary source for information about that person but not about other people.
• A diary would be a primary source for information about the author but not for other people.
• A witnessed marriage certificate would be a primary source for a marriage date, location, etc. but not for other information such as birth dates and birthplaces.
• A witness to an event would be a primary source for that specific event. (e.g. a father telling the story about the birth of his daughter, which he witnessed, would be a primary source, but his mother, who was not present for the birth of his daughter, would not be a primary source because she only heard his account of the event and did not witness it herself.)

Secondary Sources

Secondary sources are less reliable than primary sources but can still be used to verify information. (If there is ever a discrepancy between a primary and secondary source, use the information from the primary source.) A secondary source is someone who has second-hand knowledge of an experience or event or an official record for an event that contains information about some other event. Examples of secondary sources include:

• An interview with your mother talking about events that happened to her father (Grandpa) as told to her by Grandpa is a secondary source for information because she did not experience the events first-hand.
• A diary would be a secondary source for information about people other than the author.
• A marriage certificate would be a secondary source for information not directly about the marriage, such as birth dates, birthplaces, birth names, parent names, etc.
• An account of someone who heard the information from someone who witnessed an event is also a secondary source.

Source Accuracy

Even primary sources can be incorrect. Official documents may have errors. (Example: My grandfather's birth certificate has a birth date on it that is one day off from his actual date of birth because he wasn't born in a hospital.) Memories can fade or alter over time. (You grandmother is telling you about her first date with Grandpa, but Grandpa tells the story with information that doesn't quite match up with hers.) Never assume that any source is 100% correct, but don't throw out a source if it has a mistake (it can still be material for a good story later on).

One way to attempt to get the most accurate information possible is to get as close to the original source as possible rather than using derivative sources. For example, let's say I'm looking at a transcription on the Internet of the cemetery headstone for my great grandmother. That is a derivative source because it isn't the original (the original source would be the headstone itself, which I would have to see for myself by physically traveling to the cemetery and looking at it). In fact, the transcription found on the Internet is probably at least a derivative of a derivative because it was typed into a web page format from a handwritten transcript taken from a photograph of the headstone. In this case the photograph is the closest derivative of the original source and would have the best chance of not having errors. The handwritten transcription may have had an error on it, and the typed web page transcription could have typographic errors, so if I wanted to be as accurate as possible but couldn't physically travel to see the headstone myself, I would want to see the photograph because it is the closest derivative of the original source.

Sources that are highly suspected of being inaccurate include any family rumors, claims of being linked to somebody famous or "important," claims of being affiliated with anything based on location of residence or ethnic background, claims that the ancestry line can be traced back to ancient or prehistoric times, and any family legend about amazing adventures. This doesn't mean that these sources are incorrect. It just means that you should make sure you have sufficient evidence before claiming that they are true; this includes searching for a lack of evidence (such as verifying that Great Great Aunt Elizabeth really didn't appear on any ship's records, and having sources to support that her parents lived and died in Europe while her children were born here, so the possibility that she was smuggled into the country, as told in the great family legend, isn't ruled out).

Unverifiable Information

Sometimes the sources you have lead you in the right direction, but you can't verify the information with a primary source or multiple secondary sources. In such cases, make sure that you label the source as unverifiable in your citation.

Using Sources

Rule #1: Always try to learn as much as you can about a source before you start looking through it. If you are going to look through a census, learn about that census before you start searching through it. If you are looking at a photograph (especially if you don't know when or where the photograph was taken), learn about how to date a photograph.

Rule #2: Record all necessary information for citing your source. Always cite the source whenever you add any data from it to your family tree records.

Rule #3: Always try to get the original source or the closest derivative. Don't just use the census index, look at the image of the census. Don't just use transcriptions of audio, get your hands on the actual audio.

Rule #4: Extract as much information as possible from every source. This includes how the item looks (which is important in dating the item if it doesn't have a date), who created the item (such as who wrote down the information in a document, enumerators, clerks, a family member, and so forth), and obvious information such as the items written on the document. If you are using a document that cites other sources (such as another researcher's genealogy records), make sure to copy down their source citations (you can probably use these same items to verify the information for you own records). If you are using a photograph, don't forget to look at the background, cars, houses, clothing styles, landmarks, and so forth to get a sense of when and where it was taken.

Rule #5: Preserve the source. This is especially important for any original documents or artifacts. Learn proper preservation techniques before trying to preserve an item, so you don't make a costly mistake. I highly recommend scanning the item or taking a digital photograph, which get stored on your computer, for looking at items frequently, so you don't disturb the original.