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Got this from the Littlefield list, and thought it relevant.
Comments????
>Resent-Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 07:40:26 -0700 (PDT)
>From: snick(a)seark.net
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>Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1998 09:51:46 -0500
>To: (Recipient list suppressed)
>Subject: Words Of Caution
>Resent-From: LITTLEFIELD-ROOTS-L(a)rootsweb.com
>Reply-To: LITTLEFIELD-ROOTS-L(a)rootsweb.com
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>
>This was posted today on the BOONE discussion list. Since most genealogy
>lists probably encounter similar situations, I wanted to pass this along to
>those on the LITTLEFIELD list. If you do not want to read something
>*negative* about genealogy and online genealogy, please trash this message
>right now and do NOT read the following. If, however, you consider logical
>cautions as *positive*, this message should serve as a good reminder to you.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Leona
>
>
>Dear friends,
>
> I was gratified to see such a positive response to my "PAM SUPPORT" post
>when I got up this morning. This is encouraging. I felt I owed an
>explanation as to my comment about being "discouraged".
>
> I still have a love for genealogy, but it has evolved into a more general
>interest in history with genealogy as a tool. I will try to state some
>concerns I have about genealogy in general and online genealogy in
>particular. For those who I may offend, please hit your delete key twice,
>for the others among you who already know the word "Tact" is not in my
>vocabulary, read on.
>
>ILL WILLS and DASTARDLY DEEDS:
>
> My best sources have come from Wills and deeds, as well as death
>certificates. These three, along with Family Bible pages, are generally
>considered to be the most authoritative documentation available. They are
>no more accurate than the people who filled them out. They are not some
>sacred, carved in stone, God inspired truth. More often they are lies and
>fraud, or at least mistaken. Old deeds are my hobby, and are very useful in
>determining relationships. I have NEVER seen a deed which did not contain
>some material error. Look closely, plot out the courses and dimensions,
>check deeds of neighbors and previous owners. The more complicated a
>document, the more chance of error.
> Wills- Ever wonder why most wills you find are dated a couple weeks before
>the Testator died? Either our ancestors were psychic or they were written
>posthumously. (MY guess). Read between the lines, you can usually figure
>out who really wrote it. (which may be as enlightening as the will itself!)
> Family Bibles- Often filled out at one sitting, usually on taking
>possession of the Book, or worse, just before death as the memory begins to
>fade. Or in my case, faked to obtain a Civil War Widow's pension. (She
>deseved it, but was not legally married to her second husband.)
> Death Certificates- Filled out by a grieving widow with other things on
>her mind right then, or a well intentioned relative who is guessing at the
>information.
> Census- Lies as to age for various reasons, indifference or outright
>disdain for providing information, info from neighbors or guesses by the
>census taker. Illiteracy.
>
>ONE MISTAKE
>
> Do you have one mistake in your Genealogy? Was your great-great
>grandmother the faithful saint you make her out to be? Maybe? Everything
>from there on back is someone else's genealogy, not yours.
>
>PURPOSELY DISTORTED "FACTS"
>
> One of my lines reportedly came from King Arthur. But did he exist? Who
>knows? The answer, no one knows. What I do know, is that many early Kings
>at the time of the Crusades claimed he was real and that they were
>descended from him in order to establish their own validity.
>
>WE ALL HAVE THE SAME NAMES IN A DIFFERENT ORDER
>
> Looking at a "Tree" chart of ancestors, the number of blanks in each
>generation of course increases by a power of two. The number of ancesors in
>the generation of the Crusades would exceed the world population by a
>factor of maybe 1000? Each space would have a name attached so some names
>would be used in thousands of slots. Figuring descendants for each of those
>slots the overlapping must be tremendous. Assuming the impossible, that
>every genealogist could trace all lines back to the Crusades, what are the
>odds that all names would be the same, only in a different sequence. And
>that everyone alive today is descended from the same exact Kings and Queens
>and beggars and thieves? So what's my point? I forget already.
>
>ONLINE GENEALOGY
>
> I began my online genealogy in 1981, the reason for purchase of my first
>computer. Soon after I reasoned that if I could just afford that 3MB hard
>drive at Radio Shack for only $5000.00 my problems would be over, now at
>6GB I am running out of space. I used to prowl around courthouse attics and
>weed covered graveyards to uncover a choice treasure now and then with
>great anticipation and joy. Now I can get a hundred times more info in an
>hour or two. So much so I haven't even had the time to read most of it, let
>alone put it into my own database. Which leads me to my second point.
>
>CUT AND PASTE
>
> Being involved in keeping a Family Website, I get many requests for
>information, and some criticism as well. There are two camps. One thinks
>every fact needs to be on the Two Tablets Moses brought down from the
>mountains. The other thinks that if it is in ASCII it's proof enough. I
>have submitted my own tree to the WFT Project, most of which was my own
>work. Hoping to find corroborating works I check other trees often, only to
>discover my own work pasted into someone elses tree.
>
>THIS PRACTICE IS DESTROYING ONLINE GENEALOGY.
>
>FIRST, it gives undue validity. When one piece of erroneous information
>becomes 1000 pieces of the same erroneous information, it takes on a life
>of it's own and an enearned "truth".
>SECOND, it clutters up the internet search engines with hundreds of links
>to the same bogus info. When someone does try to verify a fact, they can't
>wade through the countless references.
>THIRD, file sizes are increased to the point of unmanageablility with the
>same, tired, redundant information, even when true. This makes sharing
>impractical.
>FOURTH, it discourages people with genuinely obtained first generation info
>from releasing it.
>FIFTH, if carried to it's logical conclusion, everyone will have the same
>file. All of them wrong.
>
>SUGGESTIONS
>
> If you have info to share, state that it is speculation, as PAM did very
>responsibly. If you receive that information, paste it into your own file
>if you choose, but DO NOT redistribute it with your file. Instead, keep it
>as a separate entity as PAM did.
>
> As a general rule, do not combine other people's data with your own files
>that you redistribute. Keep a file for your eyes only and another for
>distribution. Distribute only work which you have done yourself from
>primary sources, or have independently verified from primary sources. Do
>not simply pass along someone else's data because they have it documented
>either.
>
> Do everyone a favor and pass along transcripts of primary documents.
>
> If you find documents or trees on a website, download and keep it because
>it may evaporate unexpectedly, but do not redistribute it. Instead, if
>someone asks for it, check on it's availability and send them a link.
>
>Thank you all for allowing me to bend your ear, keep on Boonin'
>Dave//
>
>Dave
>
>THE KEYSTONE PROJECT - A PENNSYLVANIA CARD CATALOG of GENEALOGY FILES
>In it's infancy, please help! http://www.stonecabin.com/keystone
>__________________________________________________________________________
>David H. Smith, Sr. Bensinger Family Genealogy
>dsmith(a)stonecabin.com http://www.stonecabin.com/bensinger
>
>
>
>
>==== LITTLEFIELD-ROOTS Mailing List ====
>Have you look at the Littlefield sites lately
>http://www.smartsites.com/littla/Littlefield/litlefie_hm.htm
>http://www.nis.za/homepgs/alittle/lfield.htm
>http://www.eden.com/~gregandi/lfd.htm
>
>
>
>
For those who are interested in participating in an online chat forum.
Tom
>From: owner-hometown(a)list.ancestry.com
>Date: Fri, 3 Apr 1998 17:59:56 -0700
>X-Authentication-Warning: list.ancestry.com: majordomo set sender to
owner-hometown(a)list.ancestry.com using -f
>Subject: Ancestry HomeTown Daily, April 3, 1998
>Sender: owner-hometown(a)list.ancestry.com
>To: undisclosed-recipients:;
>
>Ancestry HomeTown Daily
>"A Daily Dose of Genealogy"
>www.ancestry.com
>
>April 3, 1998
>
>In this issue:
>- Database of the Day - Kansas and Kansans, Volume 4
>- Today's New Maps
>- More on Scottish Records Available on the Internet
>- Watch For the Debut of Ancestry Chats by DearMYRTLE
>- Save 20% on PERSI!
>==============================================
>Database of the Day (Free for 10 Days!)
>Kansas and Kansans, Volume 4
>
>This multi-volume series presents many of the events of pre-territorial
>and territorial Kansas in a narrative history. Volume four includes
>biographies of the pioneers of Kansas, including prominent individuals,
>politicians, law enforcers, and business owners.
>
>Bibliography:
>Connelley, William E. A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans. Chicago:
>Lewis Publishing Company, 1918.
>
>To search this database, go to:
>http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/search.asp
>OR
>http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/recent.asp
>==============================================
>Today's New Maps
>
>Today's FREE map is:
>- English Expansion 1698-1713
>(Free for 10 Days!)
>
>Today's maps available in the Subscription Area:
>- Swedish and Norwegian Born Population in the US 1930
>- Progress of Abolition 1865-68
>
>To view these maps, go to:
>http://www.ancestry.com/ancestry/maps.asp
>Look under the FREE MAPS section of the page for the
>Free map of the day.
>==============================================
>More on Scottish Records Available on the Internet
>
>>From the General Record Office of Scotland
>
>Origins', the Internet genealogical searching service of the General
>Register Office for Scotland, is nearly ready!
>
>We thank you for your interest in our exciting new venture, and we very
>much hope that you enjoy using it.
>
>We are pleased to announce that Origins (at http://www.origins.net)
>will go live on Monday 6 April 1998, and should be available from 13:00
>UK local time (08:00 US Eastern Standard Time) - if the 3000 of you
>don't all log on at once!.
>
>For details of what will be available and at what price see the webpages
>http://www.open.gov.uk/gros/faq.htmhttp://www.anywhere.co.uk/news.html
>
>General Register Office for Scotland
>New Register House
>Edinburgh EH1 3YT
>Scotland
>United Kingdom
>==============================================
>Watch For the Debut of Ancestry Chats
>by DearMYRTLE
>
>DearREADERS,
>During my visit here in Utah, I've spent time in the tech support phone
>room and understand that many of you are anxiously awaiting the debut of
>the chats at Ancestry.com. I am thrilled by Ancestry's commitment of
>manpower and resources to make this a viable reality.
>
>Ancestry has long been well-respected as a publisher of the very best
>resource books for genealogists. During the last year their web site has
>become the leading cyberspace location with searchable genealogy
>databases. Adding the chat component will bring a true sense of
>community to Ancestry.com, providing for real-time exchange of
>information between family historians.
>
>Believe me, I'll let you know the very second the contractors are
>finished. They are doing the crown molding today and laying the
>carpeting tomorrow. OK, that's an exaggeration, but you can imagine
>that cyberspace construction projects have the same scheduling
>challenges we experience when building a new home. It always takes a
>little bit longer than we plan, especially if we want to get it right.
>
>Chatting with folks from all over the Internet about genealogy is going
>to be exciting! I can hardly wait to meet you folks in person! Our
>programming team is finalizing the design of the screens to provide easy
>access to the chat rooms.
>
>What is it going to look like?
>
>Well, I've asked them to build an auditorium and two classrooms, as well
>as nearly 30 other chat rooms with titles such as Basic Research,
>General Genealogy, History, Native American, British Isles, Germans to
>America, and US New England. From this you can see we've made some
>rooms topically oriented while others reflect ethnic variety. Many more
>are categorized by regions of the world. These rooms will always be
>"on" which means you can always join with like-minded researchers, even
>without a scheduled event taking place. I can have them add more rooms
>as interest grows.
>
>I've been lining up chat hosts who hail from all over the Internet.
>Some already host chats on AOL, CompuServe or the Internet. Others
>teach classes at their local community colleges and genealogy societies
>or publish family newsletters. It has been a true joy interviewing each
>one on the phone and reviewing their resumes. They all share an
>enthusiasm for helping others unlock the mysteries of researching their
>family trees.
>
>Each Saturday you can expect a supplement of the HomeTown Daily devoted
>exclusively to the following week's chat features. I'll also include
>the latest tips for getting around the chat area more efficiently.
>
>Have I peaked your curiosity?
>Sure hope so! I promise to let you know the moment the chat rooms are
>available by making an announcement on the main screen of Ancestry.com,
>in my columns on AOL and Ancestry.,com, in the HomeTown Daily and in a
>special e-mailing to a broad base of genealogists.
>
>Can't wait!
>Myrt :)
>
>PS - Plan to attend "How to Use Your Local LDS Family History Center"
>chat each Tuesday evening 11 pm to midnight Eastern. They will be held
>in the DearMYRTLE Chat Room at Ancestry.com as soon as the chat
>capability goes live!
>
>===================DearMYRTLE=================
>is a daily genealogy column (KEYWORD: dearmyrtle) published on America
>Online in the Genealogy Forum and at Ancestry.com
>http://www.ancestry.com. Due to the volume of e-mail, Myrt is unable to
>respond to each individually. She does read all her mail, and chooses
>representative samples as a basis for articles from time to time.
>Contact DearMYRTLE at: dearmyrtle(a)aol.com or dearmyrtle(a)ancestry.com
>==============================================
>Save 20% on PERSI!
>
>Our featured product today in Ancestry's Online Store is the PERiodical
>Source Index (PERSI) CD-ROM. This valuable resource is regularly
>$99.95, but is on sale today for $79.95 at the Ancestry Online Store
>(http://www2.viaweb.com/ancestry/).
>
>Representing 27 volumes in print, the Periodical Source Index (PERSI) is
>an index to over one million articles from over 5,000 genealogy and
>local history periodicals
>written in English and also French-Canadian since 1800. The collection
>even includes many articles dating from the 1700s.
>If you want to know if a periodical has ever been written about one of
>your ancestors, PERSI is the tool you will want to use!
>
>"The release of the electronic versions makes PERSI a genealogical
>resource that should be consulted for every English speaking ancestor.
>If you've tried finding your ancestors before without success, PERSI may
>be what you need to find your roots."
> -- Alan E. Mann, A. G., manager of the Family History Library's
>Automated Resource Center
>
>Order today's product through Ancestry's Online Store at:
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>
>The price will be effective until Monday, 6 April, 5 PM MST.
>==============================================
>
><><><><><><><><>
>Have a great weekend!
>Lanae Clark, Editor, Ancestry's HomeTown Daily
>
>Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to other genealogy
>enthusiasts! To subscribe to this newsletter, visit www.ancestry.com
>and type your E-mail address in the box provided, or send your E-mail
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><><><><><><><><>
>
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