Note your sources while they’re still fresh

Do you cite your sources? This simply means writing down where you found a fact. Many beginning genealogists don’t bother with this figuring they will remember. Others think this is only for “professional” genealogists. However, all genealogists should know where their information originated. That’s a basic and extremely important rule.

When you begin your genealogical journey it’s easy to assume you’ll remember who told you something or where you found information. With only a few names in your database or on your charts you may think “how difficult can that be?” However, like mushrooms in August, a family tree has a way of growing rapidly and with that growth the need to know where things came from is critical.

Unless you have a phenomenal memory, when you reach a few hundred names with all their other information such as dates and places of events you’ll find it harder to keep track of where you found things. And, with each generation you explore, you can easily add dozens of new names and their data to your software. At that point it is doubtful you’ll be able to recall every source used.

It can be embarrassing to have to admit you don’t remember where you found something. And, yes, it’s happened to me. Challenges to where you found data can happen if you meet someone researching the same line as yours or if you locate alternate information in the course of researching.

When you come across conflicting information you need to weigh the sources to determine which is more likely to be correct. For example, if you found the name of a wife listed as Sarah in one place and Mary in another. There are several possibilities including that a man had two wives, or that the wife may have been named Sarah Mary and records got recorded using both her names, or even that two women married men with the same name as your ancestor.

You can’t evaluate sources if you haven’t recorded them in the first place. In the case of Sarah/Mary above you may find yourself hunting desperately to locate your original source which showed Mary was the name of your ancestor’s wife.

Make it easier on yourself. Cite your sources. If you’re using genealogical software all good ones allow you to enter your sources and you should take the time to do that. If you’re using charts you can create a separate document or write on the back of the charts where your information came from.

At a minimum, you need to record the following about a source: title, author (if a book, plus publication date since later editions can have different information), location, call number, website if online, or name of person interviewed and the date of the interview. With that it will be easy to find the source again should you ever need to. Trust me, it will save you many headaches in the long run.

Nancy Battick is a Dover-Foxcroft native who has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds a MA in History from UM and lives in DF with her husband, Jack, another avid genealogist. You can contact Nancy at nbattick@roadrunner.com.