Collaborating To Document Mankind

Collaborate and Document, The Future of Effective Family History Research.

What a gift my mother and sister have provided me, a legacy of research recorded. Through them I have a head start. If only there were more at my fingertips. Thankfully there were others who ignited a fire of interest within me that emboldens me to carry forward, to move forward. Now, will this flame pass on to my children? My children who are busy raising their families? I hope so, I believe so.

There is a new gift coming, for my posterity and for all of us. The gift is a website and a focus. The focus is to have us document mankind. The gift is FamilySearch Family Tree. Family Tree addresses the question, "why should my children have to duplicate the research I have done"? For that matter, why should anyone so interested in a particular ancestor have to duplicate research already done? Тhe answer is simple, they shouldn't have to.

This concept is going to be a shift in thought for some who think, "I did the research, it’s mine, you can’t have access to it." Isn’t that a selfish point of view? Aren’t private trees selfish?

Oh well, here comes FamilySearch Family Tree. Like it or not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are soon to see a message when they login to their genealogy website new.familysearch.org. The message, “we are forwarding you to Family Tree”.

A signifcant change is that Family Tree is one tree. To illustrate: when I change or add a date of birth of an ancestor, I change it for all. Note, we are expected to document that change in Family Tree. Don't change unless you can document. Think of how awesome that is.

Also besides the document, those of us who have a story, a photo, or something of value – we can load that precious information for all to view. Up to 1000 items per ancestor.

Perhaps these followers, children, cousins, relatives will move on to breaking down our brick walls. They won’t waste time doing what has been done. I keep thinking how cool is that? This is the collaborating part.

Some thoughts and insights on Documentation

Family tree has a piece called conversations. We can communicate together. We can upload what we have. What we will want to is upload all relevant documentation and decide together what the best documentation is. As an example, the only documentation I have on a cousin Ray Spaulding is his funeral program. It provides birthdates and place and death date and place. It’s better than no documentation. However, if another person or relative has a birth or death certificate with a different date, we would probably decide it is a better source. We would most likely use the certificate. Notice the we in this concept? How cool is that?

In addition to uploading the document we will be asked to share where we found it. Why? So future researchers have access to the source we used. They should have the ability to verify, analyze, or discern the accuracy or ramifications of what we have provided. The rule of thumb should be that we “cite our sources”.

Primary Evidence:

Primary evidence is the “Best Evidence” available to prove the fact you are addressing. It could be an original document or record. It could be a first hand testimony in writing or in an oral interview of an eye-witness or participant. (Family Tree will provide the ability to upload oral interviews) Primary evidence might include writings that were done at the time of an event.

Examples of primary evidence would be an original will, a baptismal certificate, a marriage application, or a diary entry.

Secondary Evidence:

Secondary evidence would be materials that are copied or extracted in some form. It would be something taken from an original. Examples: taken from a book or family history, an obituary, or a compilation of: vital records, tombstone recordings, etc.

Direct Evidence:

This is evidence, that standing alone, should show proof to a fact. An example would be a will in which a father states that a particular person is his child. Another example is a marriage application the bride states her maiden name. Another, a family bible entry entered at or near the time of the event.

Indirect Evidence: This is also Circumstantial Evidence.

Sometimes this is all you can find. Even though it is circumstantial it is of value. It may be temporarily the best evidence that leads someone else to a path for more credible discovery.

Indirect evidence may be a fact that is inferred from other evidence. It may be a clue that leads one to further study. It may intimate you go to a particular other reference to verify a fact. A census may name people in a household without stating the relationships of each. Nice clue, not evidence. A census may state an age, not a birth year. Even better it might name a state of birth. More clues, right? A death certificate may give some information, not complete information. A document you have may infer the location of a family plot.

Get excited about how you can be a provider of family history via FamilySearch Family Tree. Anticipate connecting with cousins unknown. Go forward with an attitude of being the giver of the gifts of knowledge and attitude. Be kind as you convert your relatives to the value of collaboration. Always remember, that is not your grandfather, he is our grandfather. You've been given family history gifts, now it's your turn. How cool is that?

Linking Documentation To FamilyTree, An Important Process

The engineers and developers at FamilySearch.org are in all out mode to complete FamilyTree and make it availble for free to the public.

I am in the group that has been using it in Beta mode and am excited about it's future.

As it is nearing a level it will be introduced and made available to everyone I am changing a few things that are significant that is part of my research. What I am referring to, is where I document my research.

FamilyTree will allow us to link to our documentation. Any online source has a unique URL or web address. Think of the value in seeing a headstone, a story, an obituary, a marriage or death certificate, or any source posted online by another researcher. Think of the awesome value of not having to go find that document when someone else found it and posted on your FamilyTree a link to that document. Realize that you now, thanks to that link, can move on to a different challenge. Pretty dang important. Since it is a one world tree concept, when you or I link a document to my great great great grandmother, we link it for all others to view. It is called collaboration, which the church is intentionally inviting on FamilyTree.

With that in mind, as of yesterday I started using FamilyTree as the only on line place I am documenting my ancestors. I do it for me, I do it for you. You do it for you, you do it for me. I am keeping hard copies using the filing sysem I have written about: Click here

I am excited as to how this will help us all. A grave headstone has a lot of credible information. I use http://findagrave.com/ and http://billiongraves.com/ as part of my research process. In searching Isaac Cragun, son of Patrick Cragun, I found additional facts I hadn't planned on. For example, I was having trouble finding his grave and cemetary. The many spellings of his name were part of the difficulty. I knew what state he died in, Tennessee, so I finally just searched for Tennessee using the 3 different spellings I knew he used.

Hot dang, it worked. I found his grave. But I also found several others in that cemetary. Rather than ignoring the find, or just writing them on a research log I opened another browser, pulled up FamilySearch FamilyTree, and went through the quick process of linking the headstones to their FamilyTree for my future benefit and for all others that come to the tree later.

My point, all linking of documents are best done in FamilyTree, that's what I am doing now, that's what I recommend you prepare to do, or if possible start to do.

The series of photo clips from my screen illustrate the process I went through yesteday.

1- I was having difficulty as I looking for Isaac Cragun in findagrave,com. I came across Elizabeth Shideler who is married to a grandson of Patrick Cragun. WARNING! Begin your search with a plan or you can get lost on bunny trails.

My number one focus is Patrick Cragun, where there is little documentation to support the many stories about him.

Most of his 12 children remained in Tennessee, Indiana, or Virginia. Three of them joined the Mormons and went west. It is you who are descendants of those who stayed I am hoping to connect with. You might have journals or stories that all of us can benefit by. Most of my Patrick Cragun research is on this blog: http://cragunfamilyresearchblog.blogspot.com/

This is a photo from findagrave.com There is much more at the website memorial of Elizabeth Shideler Cragun. There are also links to other family members.

I will not proceed much further on her at this time, but I am going to link this memorial to her FamilyTree in Family Search. I may want to go back someday and work further on her family and there are possible collaborating benefits by helping others.



I went to http://familysearch.org/ - loggd in, and as I have access to FamilyTree it is my options on the top.

You might check to see if you can get permission to access it. They do make it available for a few new users from time to time, during this beta period.

A quick search for Elizabeth led me to her tree

By clicking on her name I can open her file and find a place to either discuss her in a chat mode or create or work with sources.

Once you create a source you can easily add it to any other applicable person. You can organize your sources in the source box.

Notice what you are required to enter as you create a source: all important for future reference.

Now, as I have completed the linking a new visitor to her FamilyTree file will see by her name their is a source that has been entered.

A Census Find Can Be Wrong

Kathleen was noticing that the 1940 census had her father 20 years older than he really was.

The lesson, when you find a census it is often a great resource, however, as a stand alone documentation it may have some incorrect info.

I love finding censuses on families I am researching. Yesterday I found the family of a woman who was a child we knew of parents we knew of. Through British census info we learned she ran a boarding house, that she outlived 4 of her 5 children. We previously didn't know even if she was married. We found grandchildren. We found out her married name. We still need to find her husbands name as she shows up in a census as a widow, at age 33.

Yes you can glean a lot from a census. One thing I like about Ancestry.com is how it suggests other census to review on the same page of the particular census you are looking at.

What about Evidence In Genealogy Research?

One of the most significant new genealogy offerings of 2012 will be FamilyTree by Family Search.

Family Tree will be free and will be open to everyone. To members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints it will replace New Family Search.

The data in New Family Search will be the data in FamilyTree. New Family Search has been a great tool for members with one big problem, much of the data is wrong.
For more detail, a previous article on how FamilyTree will change and improve things, click here.

My topic for today is about evidence. This is critical in serious genealogy research. FamilyTree is serious. But for all applications evidence is critical. In FamilyTree there is only one tree. In other words, all my cousins have the same grandfather and we all tie into the same part of the tree. So if I input a fact, it shows up on all my cousins trees too.

Therefore - we not only need to collaborate we all need to provide evidence and documentation. So here are some principles regarding proper evidence:

Evidence has many facets. Its purpose is to furnish proof. It sometimes contradicts what we have believed to be factual. Yesterday, here in world wide support, we had a lady extremely irate when we changed a files information based on proof another ancestor provided. First point, irate isn't a good place to be. I can tell you that I know it will be a paradigm shift for many to have to have other relatives having a say in what is on the FamilyTree. I can also attest this is so exciting and it will be a huge blessing to us all.

Consider the benefit of uniting generations. Everyone is stuck on certain ancestors. Me for example on Patrick Cragun. If we provide all of our ancestors facts and evidence on all between Patrick and us we can focus on him. Our cousins and our children won't have to waste time repeating our efforts.

As there are many different ways to prove something. Sometimes we will have to analyze, discuss, correlate, carefully evaluate, even make a reasoned judgement as we decide. So the better the evidence the better it is for all of us.

As you look at evidence be asking yourself what does it say to you. How relevant is it to your research? Does it provide direct answers to the questions you are researching? Does it provide indirect answers, it helps but cannot stand alone. Does it provide a negative conclusion or no answer at all? Does it provide new insights, a different conclusion, the same answer, or new clues? You do like being a detective don't you?

All genealogy isn't online now. Sites such as Family Search are adding millions of records of data each month and is become a great place way to search, but let's face the fact that it is only a small percentage of what is. The good news; many of the best types of records for your beginning efforts are on line. In the future I will write about advanced ways of searching on Google - an amazing discovery I have learned. Oh, and all data you find on line is not necessarily correct.

What is ideal is what is called Primary Evidence. That is simply original information by someone having first hand knowledge of the information.  It can be written in a document, or recorded by an impartial individual as a deposition, or recorded somewhere else as a fact. Not all genealogical conclusions are arrived at by using primary evidence because in many cases primary evidence was never recorded or it was lost. For example, not every birth was recorded with a birth certificate, a hospital affidavit, or a Bible entry.

If no vital record can be found, circumstantial evidence can be used. Circumstantial evidence implies the existence of a fact as that fact is also supported by other sources. Evidence has further facets. Direct
evidence, for example, is information that relates directly to a precise issue and therefore tends to show the existence of a fact, such as the previously mentioned birth certificate.

Collateral evidence, on the other hand, is an integral part of the source record, but has nothing to do with the reason that the record exists. One example is the death date of a land owner included on a land transfer from the land owner’s heirs to someone else. The purpose of the record was to prove transfer of the land, but it also provided collateral evidence of a man’s death.

Two types of evidence are suspect and therefore not as dependable at those stated previously. Secondary
evidence covers a broad spectrum from the very trustworthy to the highly questionable. It comes from
transcribed or copied materials and most often refers to the document itself. Hearsay evidence, however, refers to the provider of the information. Was the evidence outside the personal knowledge of the source that reports it—written or spoken?

The two facets of evidence that refer to comparative statements are: conflicting evidence or information
on a particular genealogical issue that doesn’t agree with information from another source; and clear and
convincing evidence which is information that fits perfectly with other evidence enough to consider it to be valid.

While the Internet can provide some primary, direct, and indirect sources, it has an equally great value in
providing the historical background to an ancestor that will help you find places to look for the primary,
secondary, or circumstantial evidence. Unfortunately it contains a huge amount of hearsay and secondary
evidence. It can lead you to individuals who have part of the information you seek, or lead you completely off track.

In short, do the best you can, get the best you can, acknowledge you may have a ways to go and get sold on the wonderful opportunity coming to collaborate with your relatives via FamilyTree in the initiative of documenting mankind.

And prepare to be nice, who knows, I may be your cousin, and I like nice.

PS: Leave me a comment or email at larry@cragun.net if you would like to be notified when you can sign up for FamilyTree.

Family Tree - Weighing The Best Documentation

The benefit of Family Tree will be a combination of the forums for discussion, the ability to link to a source, and the sharing of the documentation for analysis. Relatives can discuss the details of what is posted. One can look at mulitiple sources to determine which is the most reliable. New facts can be determined from a combination of sources.

For example: below is a copy of my cousins funeral program. If this were the only record it would be valuable in the decision making process. However, one would prefer official death and birth certificates.

Ray was in this database and the information it had was not documented, it was different in: Full name, birth place and date omitted, death date was different, and no place or date of buriel. All of these I was able to update based on the funeral program.

Another benefit, is that what I have here in this program may not be the best proof but may provide something factual a relative might want and it may be they are glad to be able to copy the program. If you only had this program there are some things it might be a clue to. Why was Howard Cragun conducting? Was he a Mormon Bishop? He was. We know where Ray was buried by this. Who knows what a program would mean to a descendant!

I also began watching Ray and his parents activity in Family Tree. This provides me an email when anyone makes a change, comment, or document to their file. Currently the email's come weekly, they hope to eventually make them immediate. This service connects you immediately to those who are working on that relative.

Pretty cool.

Raymond E Spalding Funeral Program

This brings up another point. Where do you place the document so you can link to it.  Family Tree won't let you upload the document, there will be millions of subscribers, and the service is going to be free. The server farms being built are already very expensive, can you imagine the costs to store everyones documents?

This is one of the reasons I started this blog. Every post has a unique link ID. For example, this one is: http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7507973415825745258#editor/target=post;postID=1726049901124148798

This link can be placed in family tree as access to the source. Doing it this way provides another benefit: my unknown cousins can find my blog and see my charming personality - and my vastly extensive knowledge about family, technology, and culture. :)

I would allow relatives to post documents on my blog, shall I say send them to me to post but don't let the concept be intimidating. As wildly technical as I might appear, starting and writing a blog is so easy anyone can do it. It takes so little time to setup and your 5th grader can do it. OK, your 1st grader then.

Family Tree Update - Showing The Sources

Things are progressing fast with Family Tree features. So you want to see the source? OK, it's right here for your viewing.

Yes, you can now provide a link to see the sources. You just have to have a place like Flickr or a website to send peope to. That one is easy and can be free.

The fact that so many of us are related to each other makes this exciting. I have 2nd cousins whom I have never met or known of their whereabouts. Today I went in and added a link to a neat photo of their mother my 1st cousin. It is a terrific photo, she is beautiful. I am sure they will be overwhelmed when they check in, check sources, and find this of their mom.

I also added a link to this copy of my grandmother and my step grandfathers marriage license. It was easy and is now there for all of our relatives to see or download.

I really see the vision of collaberating via this free service, Family Tree.

Once again, Family Tree is in Beta with about 5,000 of us testing it. I can probably add you as a beta tester if you would like. Please leave me a comment or email at larry@cragun.net if you would like that.

Click here for a more in depth article I posted about Family Tree.