tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post7455356260125588687..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: Sitting with a CorpseJames Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-38433724185801769572013-05-20T15:08:04.905-07:002013-05-20T15:08:04.905-07:00Yes, and it is very interesting. But I think he mi...Yes, and it is very interesting. But I think he misconstrued the Emerson quote. James Tannerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-64922024646685168942013-05-20T11:47:30.000-07:002013-05-20T11:47:30.000-07:00You must be reading the Harvard book. I thought th...You must be reading the Harvard book. I thought that was a pretty hilarious quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.Nathan Murphyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16335989842820672777noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-17616833223656780712013-05-19T20:23:27.806-07:002013-05-19T20:23:27.806-07:00I am so thankful to open this kind of site of your...I am so thankful to open this kind of site of yours because you really helped me so much to know how and what to do when there are things that will happen like this..because honestly i really don’t know what to do in terms of same topic . <br />THANXS FOR SHARING !<a href="http://www.palacevip.com" rel="nofollow">london escorts</a><br /><br />palacevip6https://www.blogger.com/profile/01579535015486761749noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-56120377698258990872013-05-19T16:42:41.879-07:002013-05-19T16:42:41.879-07:00Question that account? That would be a real mine f...Question that account? That would be a real mine field!<br /><br />I regularly run into family histories like the John Tanner story while I'm writing biographies and have to decide whether/how to use them. Here are a few random principles.<br /><br />First, I rarely start with the stories. I start with genealogical data. I assemble the family using a framework of census and other vital records. I go at least one generation back (parents), two generations down (grandchildren) and look at all the siblings' families, as much as possible.<br /><br />Once I have a handle on the vital records and the family situation and economics and the places they lived, then I look at the histories.<br /><br />The first question about a family history, as you've noted above, is always: who wrote the history? Where did he or she get the information? Can he or she reasonably be expected to know the information in the history? Are sources noted?<br /><br />The next question is: how accurate is the account overall? In any written history there will be lots of information that can be verified using other sources. So how much of the story is verifiable? Are dates and places accurate? Do other contemporaneous accounts confirm some or all of the story?<br /><br />As I go through a history and find that everything that is verifiable is actually true, and if the percentage of verifiable facts is high enough, I tend to believe the rest of the history.<br /><br />One of my most-visited posts on TheAncestorFiles came about because I was trying to verify whether my 4th great grandmother Ann Prior Jarvis was reliable. I knew her grandchildren weren't always accurate about the family experiences, sometimes in woefully funny ways. So here's the experience I had with trying to verify a story she told about the start of the Second Opium War:<br /><br />http://theancestorfiles.blogspot.com/2011/10/george-jarvis-and-second-opium-war.html<br /><br />And after verifying that story and a number of others, I now pretty much believe anything she says in her histories and journal, including some fairly fantastic experiences.Amy Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04037263182287268748noreply@blogger.com