{"id":134,"date":"2008-01-05T19:24:19","date_gmt":"2008-01-06T02:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/05\/have-you-or-someone-else-sub-primed-your-genealogy\/"},"modified":"2008-01-05T19:32:55","modified_gmt":"2008-01-06T02:32:55","slug":"have-you-or-someone-else-sub-primed-your-genealogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/2008\/01\/05\/have-you-or-someone-else-sub-primed-your-genealogy\/","title":{"rendered":"Have You or Someone Else Sub-Primed Your Genealogy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2007 buzz word, which will now appear in all the dictionary new word lists, is sub-prime(d).\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0Markets have downturned.\u00a0 Sectors are losing expectations.\u00a0 Consumers will pay higher interest for less value.\u00a0 Lenders are\u00a0discounting losses on their balance sheets.\u00a0 All sub-primed!<\/p>\n

Well meaning government clerks, book and index editors, and genealogists combine evidence in separate documents for persons of similar and “soundexed” names—creating a sub-primed genealogy.\u00a0 Genealogy ghosts–that’s what they are.\u00a0 And we innocently grab these ghosts in both original<\/strong> and transcribed<\/strong> records.\u00a0 Then we blissfully\u00a0build new pedigrees that have no basis in reality.\u00a0 They simply appear real.<\/p>\n

Let me give you some examples from my research experience these past few weeks:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Duncan\/Dungan.<\/strong>\u00a0 These are both separate surnames found in the same legal documents in Southwestern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 A well-meaning editor combined them into one index–which is rather common\u00a0as genealogy indexes go.\u00a0 The index was a product of his combining the will of John Dungan with the probate accounts of the estate of John Duncan.\u00a0 So John Dungan, an unmarried man who leaves extensive real estate in PA and KY to his brother Joseph Dungan and “compensation” undefined to a relative Levi Dungan for taking care of John in his final illness–the real man, becomes a married man with a wife and seven children–a ghost.\u00a0 And John Duncan, whose\u00a0administration is accounted for, is lost forever.\u00a0 UNLESS you read\u00a0the<\/strong> original documents<\/strong> and keep them separate<\/strong> in your own genealogy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/li>\n
  2. Kelley\/Kettey.<\/strong>\u00a0 The Bishop’s Transcripts include a Lawley-Kettey marriage entry.\u00a0 The typed transcript of the parish register entry includes a Lawley-Kelley marriage.\u00a0 These are both copies made from the original register.\u00a0 It would seem an easy task to locate and read the original to see how the clerk wrote the entry.\u00a0 The original register is not at the FHL.\u00a0 It could be in the local Museum or in the archives of the nearby technical College or preserved in the county Record Office or\u00a0still among the records in the parish itself.\u00a0 Doable, rather than easy.\u00a0 We will request a photocopy or photograph of the original entry so we can study it.\u00a0 Just to complicate the problem a little: \u00a0the first clerk, who copied the Bishop’s Transcripts of the register in the late 1500’s,\u00a0crossed double ll’s<\/strong> in each name.\u00a0 The next clerk self-crossed each t.<\/strong>\u00a0 The third clerk drew a line through double tt’s.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 We know how the Bishop’s Transcripts are written.\u00a0 We need the original document.<\/li>\n
  3. Pool(e)\/Pettypool.<\/strong>\u00a0 The county recorder indexed\u00a0the Pools, Pooles,\u00a0P’pools, and the Pettypools all together.\u00a0 Deeds.\u00a0 Marriages.\u00a0 Wills.\u00a0 I read and copied the index entries.\u00a0 Then I went to the original documents to separate them out so I could study each entry and match them for fit.\u00a0 Are the Pools and the Pettypools the same family?\u00a0 \u00a0In the printed Pettypool Genealogy,<\/em>\u00a0marriages were given in an alpha list\u00a0in the\u00a0Appendix.\u00a0 There were marriages there, that do not appear in the county records.\u00a0 WOW!\u00a0 What to do?\u00a0 Took me a long time to find those marriages.\u00a0 They were recorded in the Dinwoodey Distillery Accounts<\/em>–a business ledger now available at the Virginia Library.\u00a0 Question:<\/strong>\u00a0 Why were they recorded in such a strange source?\u00a0 Answer:<\/strong>\u00a0 Business accounts are legal documents admissable in a court of law should there be any need to verify a date.\u00a0\u00a0Today they are related by both blood and marriage.\u00a0 Then the Pool family members were transplants into that county, they did not originate there nor were they related to the Pettypools.\u00a0 Soundexes are designed to find these anomalies by mixing the variants together, not to prove they are the same families.\u00a0 Do not mix them together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sub-primed!<\/strong> Each of these examples are not meant to mislead or to build a pedigree ghost.\u00a0 The creators of the\u00a0misread and merged ancestors were trying to make genealogy faster and easier.<\/p>\n

    Remember, my biggest and best genealogy research strategy–search the indexed, usually printed, records first.\u00a0 The strategy is still a good one–as a first step!<\/em>\u00a0 Next, read the original documents.\u00a0 And keep them separate.\u00a0 Do not mix them as you go along in your research.\u00a0<\/p>\n

    Evaluate your documents.\u00a0 Carefully.\u00a0 What fits?\u00a0 What doesn’t fit?\u00a0 What internal clues lie in the documents that you can follow up?<\/p>\n

    The index, the printed record, the compiled genealogy–is\u00a0a tool.\u00a0 You will never live long enough to work your way through hundreds of rolls of microfilm–and neither will I, if you hire me to do the searching.<\/p>\n

    Use all the tools available to you.\u00a0 But check the documents.\u00a0 Also read the prefaces and introductions to each tool.\u00a0 Is it a work in progress?\u00a0 Were the index entries computer-input or digitized and edited by someone who speaks the language of the records?\u00a0\u00a0Or who has been trained to read the old handwritings?<\/p>\n

    Documents require research just as the ancestors named in them do.\u00a0 I personally like to make a physical copy, on paper,<\/em> of each document so I can study and compare\u00a0each against other records.\u00a0 I can write on the document.\u00a0 I can do the math right on the document.\u00a0 I can pose questions right on the document.\u00a0 That is my preference and I create massive paper files.\u00a0 I do no<\/strong>t mix the documents.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    You can also digitize or scan\u00a0your documents onto a disc, or computer hard drive, or flash drive.\u00a0 Then study them on your computer screen.\u00a0 Your notes are more efficient when they are attached to the document.\u00a0 \u00a0So I recommend that you enter each document into your genealogy program separately–do not mix them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Create a summary<\/strong> as your genealogy.\u00a0 It too is separate.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Your favorite genealogy evidence guru, Arlene Eakle.\u00a0 http:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com<\/a><\/p>\n

    PS I speak in San Diego on 12 Jan 2008 all day.\u00a0 One of my topics is Genealogy Evidence.\u00a0 <\/em>I will demonstrate why I have a 96% success rate in tracing hard-to-find ancestors.\u00a0
    \nWhy not register to come and see how I research, collect, and evaluate the evidence for each ancestor?\u00a0 Check my speaking schedule for details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The 2007 buzz word, which will now appear in all the dictionary new word lists, is sub-prime(d).\u00a0 \u00a0Markets have downturned.\u00a0 Sectors are losing expectations.\u00a0 Consumers will pay higher interest for less value.\u00a0 Lenders are\u00a0discounting losses on their balance sheets.\u00a0 All … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arleneeakle.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}