tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post908285578733613353..comments2024-03-07T23:20:49.790-07:00Comments on Genealogy's Star: What drives genealogists over the edge...James Tannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-61540892477920108372011-03-13T13:28:03.215-07:002011-03-13T13:28:03.215-07:00In his March 7, 2011 post, AncestryInsider in his ...In his March 7, 2011 post, AncestryInsider in his blog<br />http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/<br /><br />paraphrased Dan Lawyer, former but recently a FamilySearch employee, as to objectives of changes projected for the new FamilySearch Tree.<br /><br />FamilySearch has several goals.<br /> * Make it so you don’t have to be a genealogist to do genealogy.<br /> * Make it easy to receive (and give) assistance.<br /> * Make the site genealogically sound so that even advanced genealogists will want to use it<br /><br />The tree is beset and corrupted by being based on material that was largely not founded on documentary research.<br /><br />When so many limit their 'research' to copying from internet trees or their sources, and so many do not want even to do their own internet searches, how can the first objective not clash with the third?<br /><br />In the instance you give, James, it appears that the individual who made the entry you began with either did not understand the general rule that women should be listed by their fathers' surnames rather than by their husbands' (major exceptions include in the Spanish-speaking world and in times/places where patronymic designations were not replaced by surnames until recently).<br /><br />Some tree programs will catch this sort of mistake, but if the entering individual does not understand the reason for it, they can override an error message.<br /><br />If the entering individual does not have the birth-surname, how will she/he be guided to make a proper temporary entry pending further research?<br /><br />In this respect I echo Randy Seaver's comment, and further, even when Town and Church Records in MA are very good, they are by no means complete - either for the same reasons as many items were never recorded up to the present day, or due to shunning for religious and political reasons.Geoloverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12050268303916428230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-88207366363968891542011-03-12T19:31:33.907-07:002011-03-12T19:31:33.907-07:00A caveat, since I have some experience in Massachu...A caveat, since I have some experience in Massachusetts VRs: There are some towns in Massachusetts for which records are incomplete. Boston is one, and it was the non-compliance with the practice of recording BMDs in the towns that a law was passed to require BMDs to be reported to the town clerk. That started in 1841, and wsas generally complied with by 1850. The 1850 and on period has decent compliane - maybe 95%.<br /><br /><br />In general - yes, Mass has probably more BMDs as a percentage of population than any other state in pre-1850 times, but it isn't 100% complete. I do apprecaite all of the records!Randy Seaverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17477703429102065294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-25918402292471775652011-03-12T17:32:34.607-07:002011-03-12T17:32:34.607-07:00Thanks for the contribution. Before I saw just the...Thanks for the contribution. Before I saw just the name, date and place, I had no knowledge of Harriet Maria Stevens at all. What I found was done in less than 1/2 hour total research.James Tannerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02989059644120454647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1527613590529958801.post-68137447985571859352011-03-12T17:14:20.444-07:002011-03-12T17:14:20.444-07:00You are absolutely correct about Harriet Maria Ste...You are absolutely correct about Harriet Maria Stevens. She was born on 1 October 1836 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, and married John N. Wilkinson on 5 November 1852 in Westford, Massachusetts. John N. Wilkinson's parents were Robert Wilkinson and Annie Duren, married in Carlisle, Massachusetts. This Wilkinson line is not a difficult one, going back to Charlestown, Massachusetts. All easily found in vital records available on line or in any genealogy library. I traced it years ago hoping it tied into my New Hampshire Wilkinsons, but it didn't. Nor the Rhode Island Wilkinsons. However, I kept the records just in case- and believe it or not, one of John and Harriet's descendants married one of my relatives in the 1870s.Heather Wilkinson Rojohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17704949156266722016noreply@blogger.com