Lesson-Five - DOCUMENTATION Part-2

There are two types of sources used in genealogical research: primary and secondary. Primary sources are documents and records that were created at or around the time that an event, such as a birth, death, or marriage, occurred. Someone with direct and personal knowledge of the event wrote these documents and records. They may include vital records, such as certificates of births, deaths, or marriages, family bibles, military records, census information, naturalization records, and more. Because they are considered to be highly accurate, primary sources are preferred when obtaining and citing genealogical information.

Secondary sources are documents and records that were not created at the time that an even occurred. They may include old letters, books, oral interviews, and vital records for events other than that in which they were written. Secondary sources are often provided by someone recollecting events of the past, and may not always be completely accurate.

The following paragraphs give more detail on source types, and then some examples of what to look for, and where to be cautious.

Primary Sources

Those that recount an event at or close to the time it happened; original records of events and may include: diaries, journals, state or federal census records, courthouse records such as deeds, will probates, birth or death records, baptism or marriage records. Also included as primary sources would be ship's passenger lists, cemetery gravestones and military records.

Secondary Sources

Published records, including: family histories, indexes or compilations of census or marriage records, any sort of history (county, state, etc.), and collections of cemetery inscriptions, for instance.

Examples & Cautions

Dates and personal and place names can be erroneously recorded in both primary and secondary sources. When several conflicting names or dates exist, the researcher should determine the earliest occurrences of the names and dates in primary sources. Normally evidence from primary sources would take precedence. If a census reported a person's age as 20 in 1850 and yet their birth record gave 1835 as the date, the birth record would take precedence. Nevertheless, sometimes a primary source may be wrong.

Census records are generally considered primary sources, however they need to be reviewed and checked. for example in the 1900 US Census record, my Great Grand Father DeWitt Bower birth is listed as 1864 in Illinois, and his father's birth place is listed as Germany. In the early 1990s I did not know his father's or mother's names. I spend many hours searching the 1870 and 1880 US Census for Illinois looking for a DeWitt Bower with a father born in Germany. I spent many hours searching the 1870 and 1880 US Census records for Illinois looking for a DeWitt Bower with a father born in Germany. It took me ten years to find his father, Adam J Bower born in Ohio.

This same Adam Bower is listed in the 1880 US Census for Kansas as "A J Bener". Needless to say, this was a hard and interesting brick wall to get passed.

One other caution within the Census records which are taken every ten years. I have often noticed that many persons, both male and female aged only five or six years in that decade.

Recommendations

Remember, check and compare all sources. Even the best sources can be wrong. Primary sources are best, but secondary sources can be used to check and verify the primary sources.

The next lesson will go into detail about the US Census records, where to find them, and how to use them for your Genealogy research.

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