Revisiting Family Records and Sources

Photo by David Nitschke on Unsplash

​This week I’m reviewing documents and sources to ensure that I have them entered into Family Tree Maker and have utilized the information fully. Sometimes when we get on a research role, we check off those documents that we have found but we don’t spend enough time reading them completely. Let’s look.

Many years ago—prior to utilizing computers and online research the way that we do today—I received a very precise ancestor document that someone had compiled from research. However, the birth record of a 3-G-Grandfather was missing. This was noted in the report and although it was likely that he was part of the line that went back further, we didn’t have the proof. Today I wouldn’t have dreamed of including those unproven ancestors but back then I did. Yikes! I haven’t worked on this family line for quite some time and in reviewing this document, I decided to look to see if I could find his birth record and confirm this relationship. I’m happy to say with more records available online, I was able to find his birth record and now I can feel comfortable that his ancestors are truly his ancestors (and mine.) Whew!
 
Do you have any ancestors that you should revisit? Or perhaps a date that is assumed but hasn’t been confirmed with a good source? If you haven’t reviewed some of those ancestors for a while, you might find that you’re missing an obvious piece of data that is now available. Or you might find that key proof that confirms a relationship within your family. Or you might realize that your FTM or whatever tree program you are using needs some cleaning up—checking sources, reviewing documents, and confirming relationships.
 
While most of us are busy with the holidays and family, if you have a few minutes look at an ancestor or related document and confirm that you have all those details captured. I know this isn’t glamorous but with so much data available today it is a good idea. Happy reviewing!