I have three times the genealogical goodness for you today, but it’s a click away. Or rather, three clicks.
Karen Cummings at Pharos Tutors asked me to write something about methodology for the Pharos blog. This was what I came up with: three posts about the different kinds of source material we use to evidence our family history research. All three posts have now published on the Pharos blog.
My last post focused on the potential dangers of relying on transcriptions. But transcripts can also be our friend! Today we’ll focus on their benefits, and how to make the most of them. I hope there is something here for both beginners and intermediate level family researchers. Perhaps beginners will benefit most simply from an appreciation of the variety of records available, whereas intermediate level genealogists will be more interested in wringing every last drop of use out of each of them.
To start, then, what do we mean by ‘transcription’? In my last post I used the term as a sort of ‘catch-all’ for documents that copy and record the information from an original document. But in genealogy there are lots of different kinds of record that do this, and some of these copies are more properly called ‘indexes’. It makes sense, then, to start by looking at the different types of record we might come across.
This is the image of the original record(A) of my 5x great grandparents, James Calvert and ‘Sally or Sarah’ Brewer. The actual original is kept at West Yorkshire Archives, and although I haven’t seen that physical document, I can say I’ve seen ‘the original’ because I have this photograph of it. It tells us that James was from another parish: Bradford, whereas ‘Sally or Sarah’ was from ‘this’ parish: Calverley. They were married by Banns, and we can see that James signed the register, but ‘Sarah or Sally’ made her mark. These alternative names, together with the fact that on every other record I’ve found, the name ‘Sarah’ is used, suggests Sarah was her ‘proper’ name, but that everyone called her ‘Sally’. Then down at the bottom we see the names of the witnesses. We will never find a copy (transcription or index) of this document that includes all of this information. Even if what is transcribed is perfectly accurate it will not have all of these facts and visual clues.
Source: Ancestry.co.uk: West Yorkshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1512-1812; Original at West Yorkshire Archive Service, Leeds
Below is a document contemporary to the original. It’s the Bishops’ Transcript (B) of that same event. It was written up at the end of the year (1799-1800) and sent off to the bishop. This image is on FindMyPast. Unfortunately the entry for James and Sally/ Sarah is right down at the bottom of the page. I’ve lightened it but it’s still dark and not easy to read, but already we can see a difference between these two documents. This records simply the following: ‘James Calvert and Sarah Brewer by Banns’, plus the date: 8 Dec.
CLICK FOR BIG! Source: FindMyPast: Yorkshire, Bishop’s Transcripts Of Marriages; Original at Borthwick Institute for Archives
There are other records on FindMyPast and Ancestry for this event, e.g. FindMyPast has it in the England Marriages 1538-1973 set (C). It is a transcription only – no image – in fact this record set was created by FamilySearch, and used at FindMyPast with their permission. It records only the following information:
First name(s): James Last name: Calvert Marriage date: 08 Dec 1799 Marriage place: Calverley Spouse’s first name(s): Sarah Spouse’s last name: Brewer
There are other types of modern transcripts. If you’re lucky you might just come across a local genealogy website relevant to your interests with dedicated researchers who have transcribed lots of documents and made them freely available. The following is from such a site: CalverleyInfo. Here we can see a very full transcription (D) of James and Sarah’s marriage.
CLICK FOR BIG! Source: Calverley Info: Calverley Parish Church Records: Marriages 1791-1800
To illustrate more types of transcribed records I’m going to have to switch to a different part of my family, but still in the ancient parish of Calverley. These records are for the burial of my 8x great grandfather, John Dracup. I have the original record from the parish register (with image) and it reads: ’10 [April] John Dracup Junior of Idle Green buryed’.
Next, the entry for that burial on FreeReg (E). In fact there are two, and when I click on each one to view the transcript I see this is because the information has been transcribed by two different people, but the transcription is the same, and it does provide all the information on the original.
Source: FreeReg
My final example is from the Calverley page of GENUKI. There are a lot of transcripts for Births, Marriages, Burials and other related records on this page, including several different sets for the Calverley burials, transcribed and made freely available by a number of different people. One person, for example, has extracted all baptisms for people living in Idle for the years 1796-1800; other sets are for marriages arranged alphabetically by groom and by bride. The set I’m going to home in on is Calverley Burial Indexes 1596-1720, arranged alphabetically by surname (F), and transcribed by Steve Gaunt. Scrolling down to Dracup, this is what I find: a full listing of the burials of several generations of my ancestors, all in one place, and John Junior is right there in the middle. Again, all the information from that original has been included.
Source: GENUKI: Calverley Burial Indexes 1596-1720, transcribed by Steve Gaunt
Apart from the original, right at the top, every other document you have just seen is a type of transcription. Some are indexes – they might serve simply to point to where information can be found. Since they are online most of them depend on the existence of a searchable index (G) so we can find them. What they have in common is that the information they record has simply been copied from somewhere else. That ‘somewhere else’ might be the original, or it might have been copied from another transcript. The Bishops’ Transcript has an unusual status in that it is a contemporary original document, but it is itself just a copy – a resumé, even – of the original entry in the parish register.
Beware! So this is a good time to think back to my last post, and remember that every time the information is copied, there is the possibility of mistakes creeping in: human error, difficulties with archaic writing, inexperience, carelessness, administrative error…. Every single time something is copied there is scope for error. We must be mindful of that when we use them.
Where will we find these different types of record? If you have a paid subscription to Ancestry, FindMyPast, The Genealogist, MyHeritage, etc then you’re more likely to have access to digital images of the originals. However, this depends on whether the archives where the originals are kept has licensed your subscription site to share them. For example, FindMyPast has a licence agreement with Staffordshire Archives Service which means they can provide Births, Marriages, Banns, Marriage Licences, Burials, Wills and Probate records – all with images of the originals. On Ancestry, at the time of writing, you’ll find ‘Staffordshire, England, Extracted Church of England Parish Records, 1538-1839’ – these are just transcripts, no images of the originals. On the other hand it is Ancestry that has the licence agreement with Wiltshire, and you will find all the parish records with images on that site. FindMyPast currently has simply the Indexes. Neither site has originals of parish registers from Berkshire. Transcripts (or ‘indexes’) are all that is available. When we progress beyond the basic census and civil Births, Marriages, Deaths, it makes sense to choose our subscription website based on availability of the older parish registers that you need.
The transcripts and indexes, on the other hand, tend to be freely available. As indicated above, you may find them on the GENUKI page for your parish, on FreeReg, through a local family history society, or a local website dedicated to making genealogical records available, like the CalverleyInfo site. You’ll also find them for free on FamilySearch (although FamilySearch do also have a lot of images of parish registers that you can browse) and you may even come across a brilliant site like one I sometimes refer to for my Wharfedale ancestors: Wharfegen Family History, which is a very trustworthy, ongoing project to construct the family lines and histories of every person who lived in the Wharfedale and Craven areas of Yorkshire. That’s a LOT of possible transcripts!
So how can we make the best use of them? * Firstly, a transcript is infinitely better than nothing The original might have been lost, or it might not yet have been photographed for use on subscription websites. You might not be able to get to the archives where the original is stored, or it might have become too fragile for public perusal. You might not have the cash to access the subscription website where the records are kept, or any subscription website for that matter. For all these reasons, we can be very grateful for transcriptions and indexes. Although I don’t need that particular FamilySearch transcription (C) above, there are still some events for which the FamilySearch transcription is all I have. But if I use a transcript I always make a note of that, if possible I note where the originals are to be found, and if an original becomes available online I replace it as soon as I can.
* Second, even if you do have access to the original record, the transcript can help Take a look at Original (A) above, for example. Can you read everything on there? I had trouble with the first name of one of the witnesses. Now look at Full Transcription (D), and there you have all the names. Someone has kindly done the work for you. All you have to do is decide if you agree.
* Third, you can use the Bishops’ Transcript to confirm a modern transcript of the original, or to help with illegible writing on the original OK, so the Bishops’ Transcript (B) above is NOT a good example of this. But mostly they are very neat and the photographed image is NOT too dark to see. Anyway, trust me – you can.
* Fourth, the Bishops’ Transcript is also great if you have a subscription with a website that provides this but not the original parish register I gave a few county examples of this above, but I have an ongoing example relating to my own research. West Yorkshire parish registers are on Ancestry but not on FindMyPast. However, FindMyPast has the Borthwick Institute records from York which include the BTs for the whole of Yorkshire. For this reason alone I need subscriptions to both sites.
* Fifth, if your subscription site doesn’t return an existing record, try searching on a different site I gave this example in my last post: I couldn’t find a marriage for my 5x great grandparents. His name was Thomas Mann and she was Sarah. I felt sure her surname would be Creak, since that was the middle name given to their son, my 4x great grandfather. There was no such marriage showing up on Ancestry or FindMyPast. Eventually, it was FreeReg that came to the rescue (example E above is from this site). The problem here was in copying the name to the index. Ancestry did have the record, but their index gave the bride’s surname as Cooke. There’s no guarantee that FreeReg will be right and Ancestry will have it wrong of course. It could be the other way round. But it’s an example of the benefit of having a variety of sites and indexes (G) at your fingertips, and swapping between them all when you can’t find something. Remember – there is scope for human error in every index, and if the index is not correct we will not find our records on that site.
* Sixth, if you come across a transcription that’s arranged alphabetically instead of chronologically, use it as a checklist That was how I used the alphabetical transcription (F). I found I had almost all of these burials but a couple were new to me. All I had to do was search for these specific records on my subscription site, and the records appeared.
* Finally, if you come across the work of a dedicated and trusted researcher thank your lucky stars – but still search for the evidence! With practice, you can tell which researchers you can trust. Their work is careful and meticulous, thoroughly sourced, well organised… I’ve named three such examples above: the CalverlyInfo site, the Calverley page on GENUKI (although not all pages on GENUKI are as well padded) and the Wharfegen site. If you come across a site like any of these you can do a happy dance. Even so, use it as a starting point. Look for the originals. And if you can’t find the originals cite them and their website as your transcription source.
I hope there are some new ideas for you amongst that little lot. Have you any other interesting ideas for making the most of transcriptions? If so, why not leave a comment.
In my last post I wrote about different types of information that we might draw upon to build our family trees: original and derivative records, and primary and secondary sources. If you haven’t read that post, you might want to read it now. Today’s offering builds on it, by considering:
How can we use these types of evidence together to build a conclusive case?
When can we be sure we really have the right person and the facts straight?
How much evidence is enough?
There is no straightforward answer. Some advise you should aim for three pieces of evidence. I don’t agree. Sometimes one piece of evidence is so conclusive it’s all we need. Quality is more important than quantity. Other times we find ourselves conducting an ongoing investigation that can take years.
What follows is two case studies that illustrate my own experience of building a hypothesis, finding possible answers, and eventually finding that one final, convincing piece of information.
Case study 1: Who are Joseph’s parents?
As an inexperienced genealogist I came to a brick wall with one of my lines. My 3x great grandfather was Joseph Lucas, and census records indicated he was born around 1787. Joseph’s baptism record provided his father’s name – also Joseph – and from there I was able to find Joseph senior’s marriage, his wife’s name (Anne) and the names of all their children. Since Joseph senior died before censuses commenced I had no way of knowing his age. Several Joseph Lucas’s were baptised in the parish, all within a few years, and any one of them could have been my Joseph. With nothing to indicate the name of his father, how could I narrow them down?
One of the potential baptisms, in 1754, interested me because of the father’s name: Nathaniel. My 4xG grandparents, Joseph and Anne, had a son with the same name. Checking all the children of this older Nathaniel and his wife Sarah, I found that alongside their son Joseph (potentially my 4xG grandfather) they too had named a son Nathaniel. In fact, six of my Joseph’s twelve children shared names with the children of Nathaniel and Sarah. Given the importance of naming traditions, I thought I was on to something. But there was a catch. That 1754 baptism was Nonconformist. What’s more, Nathaniel’s family lived at the opposite side of Leeds from where I knew my Joseph raised his family. Two far more experienced researchers insisted I was wrong, one on the grounds of the Nonconformity; the other citing geography: ‘These are the Woodhouse Lucas’s; ours are the Hunslet Lucas’s.’ Consulting online trees, I could see that this was a problem no one had solved.
This coincidence of names was too much for me to let it go, but it was only a hypothesis, requiring further proof that I didn’t have. I did add Nathaniel, Sarah and all their children as the family of my 4xG grandfather Joseph, but knowing that others thought I was wrong, I didn’t want to take the line back any further. I left it for several years.
By the time I came back to look at this line I was more experienced, knowledgeable and confident. This is what happened next:
First, I found the baptism of Joseph’s wife, my 4xG grandmother, Anne. Her father was called Leonard… the same name she and Joseph gave their first son. So if they named their first son after Anne’s father, surely their second son, who was Nathaniel, was indeed named after Joseph’s father…?
Next, I found a record for Leonard senior on the Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices’ Indentures, 1710-1811. Anne’s father Leonard, it turned out, was a master tailor… just like Joseph was. Might Anne and Joseph have met as a result of Joseph learning his trade at the side of Anne’s father? I’ve never found a record proving that Joseph was apprenticed to Leonard, but from wider reading I knew it was not uncommon for apprentices to marry the master’s daughter; and Joseph’s marriage to Anne is at exactly the right time to coincide with the end of Joseph’s apprenticeship.
Consulting a map of the period, I could see that Leonard’s home in Chapeltown was less than a mile from Woodhouse where Nathaniel and Sarah were raising their family – a reasonable distance for their son to walk daily during his apprenticeship.
Initially, the baptism records I used for Joseph and Ann’s children were transcripts, found on FamilySearch. Now I found the originals on Ancestry. Looking at each one, I now saw that the earlier children were born in Chapeltown, consistent with the couple living with Leonard while Joseph developed his skills following apprenticeship. Using these same baptism records, I was able to work out exactly when Joseph and Anne moved from Chapeltown to Hunslet, which is where Joseph set up his own business, and where their descendants would remain for the next few generations.
There was no longer any doubt: my 4xG grandfather Joseph Lucas is the son of Nathaniel and Sarah Lucas, baptised in a Nonconformist chapel in 1754; and later abandoning that practice. All of this was worked out using primary sources: the original records (baptism, marriage, apprenticeship) and the map. Initially, the derivative records (transcripts of the baptism records) gave me sufficient information to develop my hypothesis, but had not provided the detail that enabled me to see where Joseph and Anne were living when each child was born. That alone would have provided some important evidence (that Joseph was not originally from Hunslet) when I first started to formulate this hypothesis. Wider reading, including an understanding of the apprenticeship system both generally and in Leeds (where the system was slightly different) enabled me to draw conclusions from the apprenticeship record.
One final piece of evidence has come to light recently: a DNA match with a distant cousin further back along the line from Nathaniel and Sarah.
Case study 2: The Symondsons of Starbotton
My 8x great grandfather is Thomas Symondson. He married my 8x great grandmother Agnes at St Mary’s church in Kettlewell in Yorkshire’s Wharfedale on 19th February 1674/75, and their first child, my 7x great grandfather Lister Symondson, was baptised in the same church on 21st July 1678.
Thomas’s own baptism cannot be found. Based on his marriage year of 1674/75, a birth year around 1645-1655 seems likely.
Looking at other online trees connected to Thomas and Lister, one tree in particular caught my attention. It was compiled by someone with a wide interest not just in this family but in the whole of the area known as Wharfedale. Over time, this person is working through every register from all parishes within Wharfedale, and transcribing them. The result is not only an online tree at Ancestry, but also a dedicated (free to use) website including every person ever traced within Wharfedale (all 408,794 of them!) and a list of their key life events with dates. A life’s work indeed, and of the highest quality. In other words, everything on the tree and the website has been compiled from original records (primary sources), but what I was seeing was derivative.
On this tree and related website, Thomas is listed as one of five sons: Lawrence, born 1639 in Giggleswick; Christopher, born circa 1640 in Kettlewell; Lister, born 1641 in Gisburn; then Thomas himself, born circa 1649 in Kettlewell; and finally Anthony, born 1656 in Kettlewell. Baptism records for Lawrence and Lister indicate that the father is Christopher Symondson.
From wider reading (secondary sources) I knew that the period in question was a turbulent one in English history. Referred to as the Interregnum, it is the period commencing with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and ending with the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. During these years responsibility for the registration of births, marriages and burials was removed from the clergy and given to a ‘Parish Register’. With the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the clergy resumed their role in keeping the registers. However, many of the registers of the Interregnum were not handed back to the incumbent or, regarded as invalid, they were destroyed. The result is that although some of the records of the period survive, many do not. This is almost certainly the reason for the missing records for this family, and if so they would never be found.
From the records that have survived we know that Lawrence and Lister are brothers, and their father is Christopher Symondson. It is also clear from naming patterns that there is a family connection between this Christoper, Lawrence and Lister, and my 8xG grandfather Thomas, who would go on to name his own sons Lister and Christopher. But is that relationship one of father/son/brother? Or could it be a little more distant, for example cousins? What I needed was some form of 17th century evidence that would magically link Thomas to any one of Christopher, Lawrence or Lister, as their son/brother.
Reader, I found it! 🙂
Lister left a will. On 23rd February 1693/94 Lister willed his entire estate to his wife Mary, and after Mary’s death to their only daughter Barbary. In the event of Barbary’s death without issue, the estate would pass (with some conditions attached) to ‘my brother Thomas Symondson and his heirs’. The will was signed in the presence of three men, each of whom signed or left his mark. These three men included Thomas Symondson. (As a potential beneficiary of the will, today this would render the will invalid, but it seems in 1693/4 this rule had not yet come into being.) As luck would have it, I already had a sample of my 8xG grandfather Thomas’s handwriting. In 1678, at the time of his son Lister’s baptism, Thomas was churchwarden and it was he who prepared the Bishop’s Transcript of all baptisms, marriages and burials in the parish for that year. I therefore have a whole page of his handwriting, together with two samples of him writing his own name – once to indicate the father (himself) of the baptised child Lister Symondson, and then to witness the truth and accuracy of the register. By comparing the handwriting on these two original records I can see that the Thomas Symondson who witnessed his brother’s will and the one known to be my 8xG grandfather is the same man, and by extension, my 9xG grandfather is Christopher.
*****
One final note: I wouldn’t want to you to think all my genealogical problems are solved. In these two examples – and many others – perseverance paid off. But I do have many more examples of brick walls that have so far proven insurmountable. Some of them will eventually be solved, I’m sure, but sometimes we do have to accept, finally, that the records no longer exist.
Last time I wrote about a family history document written several decades ago by a distant cousin and passed to me very recently by her nephew. Although full of mistakes, it was still of much value to me. Firstly, my own research broadly agreed with the names and places mentioned, and where there were discrepancies I was confident that these were down to my late distant cousin mis-remembering family stories: my research was correct. Second, although her claims about past wealth cannot be borne out by evidence so far available to me, there were sufficient verifiable facts that some aspects are worthy of further investigation. And finally, the more recent accounts, which related to my great grandfather, his birth mother and their families, were essentially family gossip, things I would never learn by reading official records. These are the parts of her story I value most. I learned a lot about my great grandfather.
Following on from that, I thought it worthwhile to look a little deeper at different types of evidence, why some carry more weight than others, and how there can nevertheless be value in all.
Historians make an important distinction between primary and secondary sources. As genealogists we tend to focus more on the distinction between original and derivative records. And yet there is overlap between all of these categories.
Primary sources are created at the time of an event, or not long afterwards. For us as genealogists these include original records from official sources, such as:
birth certificates
baptism records
marriage records
death certificates
wills
property documents, e.g. deeds
apprenticeship records
court records
1911 census (and subsequent censuses, as they are released)
but they will also include such things as:
photographs of people and places
letters
memoirs
diaries
spoken accounts by people who played a part in the event
Secondary sources tend to be published works in which the author describes, summarises, discusses or in some way draws upon information gathered from other sources (primary or other secondary). A secondary source may be produced many years after an event, and the author may have had no physical connection whatsoever with the original event. Examples might include:
historians’ texts based on research about a person, locality, event or period of interest
literature contemporaneous to the events, e.g. Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell
modern historical novels and films based on sound research
One advantage of such sources is that the author can benefit from an overview. S/he may know and understand much more than any one particular individual could have at the time. There is also the benefit of hindsight, not to mention objectivity.
Derivative records are records created after the event but based directly on an original record. As such, there is scope for error, based on illegibility of the original text, carelessness, or anything in between. Examples we regularly come across include:
transcriptions of original records
indexes of record collections
census records, 1841-1901
Note that a photocopy of an original document remains, for our purposes, an original.
So far everything seems quite straightforward, but the picture is not quite as clear-cut as it seems. Let’s consider some anomalies and grey areas.
Why is the 1911 census an original record, yet the earlier ones are not?
Since you’re reading this blog, you almost certainly know that when we find the 1911 census return for one of our ancestors, we see a single sheet completed by the head of household and relating to the members and accommodation of that household. Undoubtedly, this is an original record and primary source. By contrast, for the earlier censuses what we see is a long list of all residents in a specific locality, arranged by household, and organised according to the route the enumerator took as he walked from house to house, collecting the information. You might have explained this difference with reference to the illiteracy rates: that since a great many people were unable to read and write, the enumerator simply arrived on the doorstep and wrote down the information he was given. But this is not true. Individual records were created for each property, and this was then transcribed onto the lists we see today. The original sheets were destroyed. In other words, all we have left for these earlier censuses is the derivative record. This might explain some inconsistencies. Off the top of my head: my great grandfather George appears as Enoch in the 1891 census. Was this a mistranscription, or did George object to nosy-parkers coming to ask him questions? My great grandparents’ second child is referred to in the 1881 census as Jane (female). He was actually John, a boy.
Birth, Marriage and Death certificates: Are they original records?
You would think so. But no, they are not necessarily so. Imagine yourself registering a death in 1851. You would go to the local Registrar’s office. They would record all the information, give you your copy, keep the original for themselves and then send a third copy to the General Register Office in London. Of course, there were no photocopiers: the only way to do this was to write it out by hand. In other words, when we buy BMDs online from the GRO, what we receive is a facsimile of a copy of the original record, i.e. a true copy of a derivative record, and not the original itself. You can choose instead to buy your BMDs from the local Register Office. However, some don’t offer this service, while others don’t have the capacity for creating facsimiles of the originals: what we receive is a modern handwritten or typed copy of the original – again, a derivative record. Perhaps this might explain an odd discrepancy you may have come across?
Bishop’s Transcripts: are they original or derivative?
BT’s are an interesting grey area. They are the copies of parish registers that, from 1598 until around 1800, church ministers were required to keep and send annually to the diocese office. Even if a parish’s records from this period have not survived, there is the chance that the BTs have. They are contemporaneous with the originals, and if not actually written in the hand of the cleric, then at least by a churchwarden who may have known the individuals involved. As copies, strictly speaking they are derivative records and may contain transcription errors. However, sometimes they contain more information than the originals, and are often invaluable in providing a second chance in deciphering 17th or 18th century handwriting.
Are original records necessarily correct?
No. Even an original record can only be as good as the information given in the first place. In past centuries many people would have had no idea how old a deceased person was. Any inconsistencies between age at time of death and the age you know to be correct can often be put down to this, provided all other details are correct. Equally, sometimes false information is knowingly given, such as the tweaking of an age for a marriage, the falsification of marital status for a bigamous ceremony, and the pretence of marital status on birth registrations when the parents are not in fact married.
Think also about what is ‘truth’. A contemporary newspaper report might be considered an original record. We can expect a court reporter to faithfully summarise what happened during a trial. But what about a war correspondent? Their reports would inevitably be limited by what they actually saw and knew, what they felt was suitable for public retelling, and all this within the context of government censorship. Is it true if it is not the full truth? Is it of value nevertheless? Yes, because all of these limitations are part of the context.
Indexes
The wonderful thing about online genealogy sources (Ancestry, FindMyPast, FreeBMD, etc) is that the records are indexed. As a result they are very easy to find. We just type in a few key facts and we’ll be rewarded with a selection of possible records. So much easier than going to the local County Records Office and sifting through decades of data stored on microfiche. However, the indexes themselves are a derivative record: a list of each individual record to be found within the source. As such they can and do include errors. My great grandfather, born in Leeds, is indexed on the FMP 1911 census index with a birthplace of Scotland. Consequently, it took me from 2011 until 2018 to find him. I have also found a very clearly written ‘Alfred’ listed on the index as ‘George’, and indeed an entire collection indexed under Northamptonshire rather than Norfolk. (When straightforward searches fail to return results, try searching instead for another family member – the one with the least common name.)
Contemporary values, ideas and gossip
One of the fascinating things about my late distant cousin’s story was the clarity with which she expressed the prejudices of her time. While on the one hand expressing pride that a member of the family had been involved with offering assistance to late 19th century Jewish refugees, there was an undercurrent of anti Irish / Roman Catholicism. This distinction does seem to be in keeping with other vibes I’ve picked up from this period in my home town. In this respect the issue of truth and accuracy can sometimes take a back seat, in the sense that while we need to know the facts, in order to understand the society of the time, we also need to know what people thought, what they valued, what was scandalous. Our own 21st century values may be completely irrelevant if we’re trying to understand why an ancestor pursued a particular course of action. A word of caution, too, about family stories: they are not always true, although from my experience it seems there is often an element of truth in them.
Some conclusions
For us as genealogists it’s the detail that’s all-important. If we don’t get the names, places, dates and relationships correct, nothing else will be correct. So for us, seeing the original records with our own eyes is always the goal.
Derivative records are valuable in pointing us to the existence of the original, in providing us with information about the contents, and indeed where the originals no longer exist. But it’s worth noting when only a transcript has been seen.
Other primary sources enable us to draw our own conclusions about the life and times of our ancestors, while secondary sources add valuable context and aid understanding
Where there are discrepancies: look at the records, step back, and decide for yourself if there is sufficient compatibility with your existing evidence for the discrepancies to be down to human error, misunderstanding, illiteracy or even censorship. Rather than trying to prove yourself right, try to prove yourself wrong.
Next time we’ll think about how much is ‘enough’ evidence. I’ll provide some case studies showing how all these types of evidence can be used together to build hypotheses and ultimately to overcome doubts and reach sound conclusions.
English Ancestors 