tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post2858994421508566864..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: On Compiled Family HistoriesJames Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-66446354348824641812011-08-16T17:14:25.479-07:002011-08-16T17:14:25.479-07:00I know what you mean, James, about lack of citatio...I know what you mean, James, about lack of citations. I still enter the connections in my personal software wherever I don't have a name at all - call it optimism. But I put the secondary source in as a citation and hopefully wouldn't publish it as fact. Family books have been a great starting point, especially when one doesn't know where to look next.Elizabeth Saundershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01616212913975457786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-52022842993693379502011-08-16T08:13:59.993-07:002011-08-16T08:13:59.993-07:00Well, I certainly agree with this! It's a cons...Well, I certainly agree with this! It's a constant battle to appreciate all the work these people did to compile these books and the information that is preserved there and no where else since some of the facts and stories are demonstrably false.<br /><br />But as an interesting case, I've been working through the history of the Jarvis family to compile a timeline of the life of Ann Prior Jarvis for the Women of Faith project. I came to this statement in the history:<br /><br />"At a post on the way home he heard of the massacre of European sailors. The Chinese war with England had begun. Had he remained he might have been slain with the other sailors."<br /><br />A quick look at Google indicated that the start of the Second Opium War fit the story, but as I read into the history, looking into definitive sources (not Wikipedia!), I could not find anything about the deaths of any European sailors during that conflict. I was ready to abandon that tidbit from the family history as another whopper, but then I saw an old book in Google books that said "The Chinese burn European factories Dec. 14, [1856] And murder the crew of the Thistle Dec. 30 [1856]..."<br /><br />So, it's irritating to have to take some of these histories line by line and prove or disprove what was written, but it is wonderful to have so many sources available online to track down some of these questions.Amy Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04037263182287268748noreply@blogger.com