Are Published Family Histories ACCURATE? | Genealogy Explained

[@zzzbetty2915]

Prior to 1981 the DAR did not require proofs. Think of the fact that photo copiers were not widespread, so how did the DAR and SAR get their documentation?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for that insight! I'll put that in my tool box when evaluating sources.

[@constanza1648]

I do not know about DAR or SAR, but you know, before the photo copiers, there were hand copies. A lot of archives have them. And before that, two or tree witness can verify any identity (well, obviously witness can lie, but... you can find in some archive records of identity based on witness testimony).

[@fishinwidow35]

@@constanza1648 My grandmother did hand copies for DAR for my mother and aunt

[@msforemny6481]

I am in the process of documenting a 100 year old written genealogy. It was never published, but is in the state university archives. So far, I am happy to report, the documents are matching the book!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yay!!! That takes a lot of effort on your part. Good luck. Let us know when you finish it so we can celebrate your accomplishments.

[@douglasw9624]

Good topic...have encountered many printed lineage books over the years and I tend towards using them as a road map for further research than to be taken at face value. Several years ago I assisted a distant cousin who wrote a great book on our mutual Jones kin. While I love the book for its compilation of family stories and historical information, the author (against my advise) included a family lineage connecting to a very old Jones family in Massachusetts. In the years since I have all but proven the lineage and connection to the MA family as false. Amusingly to make the genealogy work, the date of birth for the earliest proven ancestor was pushed back 30 years...making it difficult to explain how a man at over 80 could have minor children listed in his will.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Wow. I can so relate to this. Thanks for sharing.

[@fishinwidow35]

I found inaccuracies in one town history in identifying photos. I have original 100+ year old photos of the same people identified by my grandmother. She actually knew them and they were her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. She had single portraits and family group photos, all identified. Now I have them. My grandmother and great aunt (who was a town clerk) did genealogy as a hobby and anything they couldn't verify was in pencil with question marks. I have seen family trees online with big mistakes and contacted some of them. Sometimes people are happy about it. LDS website has so many inaccuracies and typos it isn't even a little funny.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

So true that every source has the possibility of inaccuracies.

[@fishinwidow35]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I have been bringing home items that were my grandmother's for a couple of weeks, so many I haven't had much time to really look at everything but I did thumb through one book and found where she had crossed out inaccuracies and penciled in corrections :)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's awesome!

[@margaretmckelvie3551]

Devon this is great, . I am currently researching the Baldwin family of Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, for a genealogy assignment IHGS on Wills and administration , I have been wondering if I can reference some of the many reports and books, about this family. After seeing your video it has opened my eyes to how to Check for accuracy. Thank you so much.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You're welcome. Now, you would do well to reference the reports and books but share your critique of them, when warranted. That would demonstrate that you're aware that published genealogies exist and you can critically analyze them. Good luck. Keep me posted on the progress of your assignments.

[@donaldlindgren6817]

My biggest problem with published genealogies is my ancestors who should be in them but are not. My 4G grandfather shows up in the Wickham family history but just barely. It gives his birth and death dates and name of spouse and then says he moved to Ohio. That is the last mention of that part of the family. Not even a list of his children. The Talley family was one of the first families in Northern Delaware and there is an extensive published genealogy. Unfortunately my 3G grandfather and his parents are not in there. My only source for the parents name is an index of George's death record with who know what transcription errors. George died less than 20 years before the genealogy was published and a couple of his children remained in the area. I guess we were the poor relations.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I found a Claybaugh family history where my ancestor was only listed by name. She was the sister of the key person in the record but apparently the family lost track of her and her children. I wonder why. There is many details about the other siblings.

[@michaelwhalan9783]

Daughters of the American Revolution tree linked back to a doubtful person where my DNA matched cousin at 55cM on one segment leads to a British immigrant. There was even one or two uncle and niece marriages on their tree. That may explain the high 55cM match; however, it is not on other public family trees

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Wow. That's quiet the genealogy challenge to work with. DNA and records are really turning genealogy upside down at times.

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

Published genealogies are not primary source information and therefore not to be taken as such. I think of all secondary sources as treasure maps and not the the treasure themselves. And as treasure maps they can be useful in finding the treasure or they can be decoy maps created to purposefully throw you off the trail to the real treasure! lol In reference to my families in published genealogies, if I am lucky enough to find one there seems to be a pattern that my particular line only gets mentioned as "one of the children" represented by a lower case letter in the outline report, as far back as a fourth or fifth great grandparent with maybe a date and place of birth and no further information going forward for them at all! lol Which is fine because I like the process of finding things out for myself and making those discoveries myself. The detective or puzzle aspect is the main thing that draws me to genealogy. I also love doing those logic puzzles and have purchased a number of those books as well.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for contributing to the discussion. I like how you think.

[@hustledude]

Great tips, thank you :). For dar and sar applications a lot of times I’ll accept the names and relationships but I won’t copy over the dates because I find those are often wrong.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Oh! That's definitely something to consider. Thanks for the tip.

[@geraldheston1335]

I relied on published genealogies in my early research because I didn't know better. I tried to find the primary records to verify what's in the books. Most of the books I used are moderately accurate. The first books I used were for Quaker families so it was easy to find actual records.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I can relate! With more and more original records available, we have so many resources to combine the published genealogies and documents to puzzle out the truth (or at least attempt to.)

[@GObama2k8]

DAR lineage books can’t be considered particularly accurate because, as she mentions in the video, they rely on DAR record copies (approved applications) for their information. Modern DAR applications go through a rigorous approval process, but applications prior to about the 1980s accepted a published genealogy or even a letter from the applicant outlining their ancestry. For that reason DAR and SAR won’t accept these older applications as proof of lineage, nor will they accept the lineage books (they might accept the underlining documentation from those applications if it contains adequate evidence). The lineage books and older DAR applications, like published genealogies or online trees, offer helpful tips for research, but they aren’t reliable sources themselves.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks so much for contributing your insight. I am glad the video sparked a discussion so folks can learn together. Keep your insights coming.

[@constanza1648]

In History (and Genealogy is part of the Historical Discipline) you need to go from the most reliable to the less reliable source you have. If you don't have anything better, you can try to include those facts on less reliable sources, but you need to check out the info if you can (use the dates as a guide to archives and other sources). If you can't do it, and there's nothing else, you can use the data, but with a lot of question marks to let everybody know your source is not as reliable as you wish.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Much appreciated.

[@AdultThirdCultureKid1971]

I ask the same question about books about my maternal ancestors. 🤔

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

if only my maternal ancestors had books. I guess I'll write them. ;)

[@deckocards6988]

I certainly HOPE that the North American Family Histories book is genuine! :-) I have two books that other genealogist's have written for each side of my family, father's & mother's side and so far, so good! I've done my own research and they are matching up.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

YAY! Glad they are matching up. Apparently, some folks are finding errors. So we should use it as a source and see if we can validate it with other information.

[@donnaroberts281]

With the DAR membership forms, I generally assume that the member-provided information about their parents and grandparents is accurate. In fact with pretty much any published record or genealogy, I feel like the information about current people and the most recent generations is accurate.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I like that. I am always open to the possibility of errors (just call me a genealogy skeptic). But yes, I can lend value to that assumption.

[@donaldlindgren6817]

Fairly early in my family history journey I found an error in a DAR family history. My 5th G grandfather was conflated with someone else of the same name. It had my 5G GF's death info and descendant and the other person's birth info, wife, and military service. I rather quickly discovered. the other guy was born in Mass. and moved to New Hampshire and died there. My guy moved to Pennsylvania and then moved to and died in New York. Also the wife info did not work. My guess is that someone looking for a Rev War ancestor found one and did not do any critical review to prove otherwise. It does not help that my guy is one of my brick walls. He first shows up in NE Pennsylvania in 1799 from parts unknown.

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

Going through something like that myself right now. I have Fold3 so I can check the original Rev War records. Last night I started going through the rosters of ALL of the Vermont units. I only got through the A's including one that I STOPPED at frame 200 and still had not reached the end of the records for that unit! lol Mine is Jonathan House, Green Mountain Boy, who moved to Onondaga Co, NY where he died in 1804. I contacted the town historical society and they very kindly sent me copies of a document which is the Decree of Partition of his lands mentions all of his children and his wife but does NOT mention the daughter that TWO D.A.R. ladies claim as their connection to him. Maybe she really was his daughter but she was too young to inherit anything? I guess that's possible. But I'll have to dig more before I know for certain. On to the B's in those list of rosters of VT units I guess! lol

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks Donald. The more comments I read like these, the more I wonder how some folks can be in the DAR today with so many errors from the past. I'm not criticizing, I'm just thinking outloud.

[@maisiefreeman8597]

My mother's family (Stansfield) is documented in the Stansfeld Family History, pretty accurately, up until about 1550 - before that, some generations are okay, others are completely false. Going back to the essential Norman ancestor "Wyon Marions" who never existed. Thankfully, I have Malcolm Bull's Calderdale Companion to help me fill out the actual heritage before parish registers start. The sources he points the reader to prove the family is actually Saxon in origin. Highly recommend the Calderdale Companion (a website) if you have family from the Pennine region of England.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing these resources.

[@deniseroeller7711]

Documentation, Documentation, Documentation!!!! Do it Yourself!!!! 😊

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's the plan!

[@stanleyshannon4408]

DAR has my ancestor, Thomas Shannon of VA and GA, married to Eleanor Ringey. But there is no record of this marriage and there is no Ringey family in any area I can place Thomas Shannon. The closest Eleanor Ringey is to be found still living in England at that time. So, from my experience DAR records are not reliable.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing. I did want to have a discussion with people sharing their experiences.

[@amym.694]

This would probably apply to people who are looking at American documents. I don’t think I could find anything on my family as I’m Jewish and it’s very hard to find things, especially due to the Holocaust etc.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Have you seen my interview with a genealogy with Jewish ancestry experience? kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpqaoKR-mZyIhZo

[@ValorieZimmerman]

Be sure to join a Jewish genealogy society. There are lots of resources, but also lots of challenges!