I suppose you could post information stating that no genealogy information
is valid except authenticated source material, but that's something that is
(or should be) pounded into every genealogist every day.
I would rather see even a questionable database kept on-line because it can
provide so many clues. And after all, that's what even census information
is: a clue based on the database information taken by someone with
questionable spelling, questionable handwriting, even a questionable
interest in certain races, religions, etc. It's a CLUE toward source
information ... a part of the journey, not the destination. As an example,
my grandfather is shown as being 10 years old in the 1900 Wisconsin census,
even though I have several documents showing that he was born in 1899. The
census taker clearly added a zero for some mysterious reason. Another
example, my great-grandmother was a bit vain. She fudged her age by five
years and even changed the spelling of her middle name because she thought
it was prettier.
Actually, now that I think of it, even source documents are suspect. My
mother, who was adopted by her grandmother (it's a long story) finally
received her birth certificate from Washington State after 25 years of
requests. Her grandmother is shown as the birth mother!
In short, it's a business of clues. If you withdraw yours from the Internet
you will be doing all of us a great disservice, and will also be cheating
yourself out of clues from other researchers. My suggestion: keep it posted
and do your best.
Kim Day
Boise
-----Original Message-----
From: Linda Cassidy Lewis [mailto:pure_celtic@bigfoot.com]
Sent: Monday, March 30, 1998 9:30 AM
To: KYBATH-L; KYMORGAN-L; CASSIDY-L; HARRISON-L; LYKINS-L
Subject: The online database dilema?
Recently I have seen some discussion about why you should not upload your
"less than perfect" genealogy data to the internet. As a result, I have
just taken my database offline temporarily while I mull this over. I was
a
COMPLETE novice when I started collecting genealogy data about 8
years
ago... I didn't even know enough to write down the sources of my info for
the first year! (Of course when I started this it was just for myself and
I
never imagined that anyone else would see it.) My present database
contains
over 12,000 persons, not counting the royalty. I have worked almost
daily
for the last 4 years going back over each of my direct lines trying to
find
and record more info and better sources. But I have included info
on
siblings and their families and collateral lines which I have not, for the
most part, tried to verify. I have not yet even had time, access to
resources, or money to gather all the primary sources that I expect are
available for every one of my direct ancestors. I do/did have a notice
quite prominently on the homepage of my database warning to copy the data
at
your own risk because it was not all verified by me. But now I am
wondering
if that is enough. Should I not upload ANY genealogical info that
has not
been verified by me with a primary source at best or secondary source at
least? I hate to have someone copy something from my data without them
checking it further, but I will also miss out on the MANY people who have
seen my data and written to give me more info or correct my errors or
point
me to other resources. I'm sure not everyone who has a less than
perfect
database is going to remove theirs from the web. But I don't want to have
mine up there just because "everyone else is doing it"! Does anyone care
to
discuss the pros and cons of this issue?
Linda Cassidy Lewis
pure_celtic(a)bigfoot.com
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