Even Weak Evidence Can Teach

Earlier I posted that the only fact cited for my birth in my Rootsmagic database was from a published genealogy of nearly 50 years ago.  While this source wouldn't be one I would hang my hat on as definitive evidence of my birth, the fact is not without use in my research.

Rummel, Merle & Madelaine Olt, comp., "Three Sons of Steffan Petry, 1729-1977", Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1977, p. 401.

Working with this citation in my timeline for the research question of , "The objective of this research project is to identify the parentage of Travis LeMaster, born [redacted] in [redacted], Indiana."  

There are a number of things I can extract from this source, even though it isn't the best.

The source gives an exact date of birth, though it does not list a place.

The source is not an original record, but an authored narrative.  It is unknown who was the source of the information, but my assumption is that my father was likely contacted by the compilers of the genealogy and provided the information about our family group.

Because I cannot determine who the source of the information presented was, this information is neither primary or secondary, but is of an undetermined nature.

Is the evidence direct or indirect?  It is direct because it answers the question of who my parents are.

So I've listed the date of birth fact in my timeline, without a place, and noted on my timeline that the source is Authored, of Undetermined Information, and provides Direct Evidence of answering the research question.

In the comments section of my timeline, I've indicated that the source is a compiled genealogy, my assumption that my purported father was the source of the information, and that I am listed as the oldest child of the family group.

Now I'm on to the next source, citing the information, and building evidence to answer my research question.

 

Documenting Myself

Building out a timeline for myself, I noticed that the fact of my birth only contains one source listed in my RootsMagic database, and it's not something that would hold up to any sort of scrutiny.

Rummel, Merle & Madelaine Olt, comp., "Three Sons of Steffan Petry, 1729-1977", Gateway Press, Baltimore, MD, 1977, p. 401.

While I have primary sources for my birth scattered among my digital genealogy files, apparently I'd never taken the time to actually examine those sources and update documentation in my database.

In today's era of no privacy, where there are enough public records out in cyberspace for someone who wanted to know my birthdate could find it out, I'm sure the young folks today would be surprised to know that there are also bound genealogies in libraries that have some of the same data printed less than 50 years ago.

[Side note: No documentated cases of identity theft have ever been proven to be caused by genealogical research - I'll recommend you read this excellent post from James Tanner.]

For the purpose of this project my research question is stated thusly, "The objective of this research project is to identify the parentage of Travis LeMaster, born [redacted] in [redacted], Indiana."

Because this phase of the research involves living people, I will not post the particulars.

Building the Timeline - Initial steps

Whether you utilize the built-in features of your genealogy software or use Excel or Google Sheets to build out a timeline - the bottom line is to "just do it."

There are many examples of how to build a timeline on the web or in Facebook groups for genealogy.  Please take the time to find one that seems to fit your needs and begin using it.  So many times I've forgotten that this no one 'right way' to do this, ie. 2+2=4 but so does 3+1.

Since my Rootsmagic software already has a built in timeline, it wasn't hard to take the information the software presented and add that to my working timeline for my research question

While my research question objective is defined at the top of the sheet, the timeline can include all relevant fact events as I document them.

For my identity question, I began with the Birth fact as the Event, then added the date, place and what the source for the fact.  This will eventually be done for every fact that I have in my database.  

Each source that is listed can then be examined and categorized as to the origin of the source, whether primary or secondary, and ultimately whether the source provided directly or indirectly answered the research question.