Real Genealogy Threatened by Illiteracy

 

Genealogy is a literacy intensive pursuit. Lack of literacy skills essentially closes the door to any real involvement in family history. Lack of literacy may also contribute to lack of interest. One simple example. Many users of the FamilySearch.org website are frustrated with apparent unsupported changes to individual entries. The common reaction is to tell the offending contributor to "read or look at the sources." What if the contributor cannot read at higher than a sixth grade level? Will telling them to read the sources help to stop the changes? What if the sources are all in handwritten script? Even some of my college level grandchildren cannot read handwritten documents. I have often written about the need for some type of qualification before making changes to existing entries in the FamilySearch Family Tree but to no avail. 

Here is my favorite example of unrestrained changes being made to an individual entry without a modicum of effort to read the extensive sources available on this person's Profile Page. 

Here is a current screen shot of the changes made to just this one individual. 

I count 12 changes in the last week and this has gone on for years. How much genealogical time and effort have been wasted by these frivolous and unneeded changes? By the way Francis Cooke LZ2F-MM7 has 35 very valuable sources. How much of this constant waste of time is the result of people who cannot read?

Interestingly, my own grandfather, who was a newspaperman and editor, currently has his entry marked as read only in the Family Tree and no one can make changes except FamilySearch whose last changes were in 2024. This also means I can't add any additional memories. 

I can think of a number of ways that these sort of changes could be avoided. Here are a few sources about illiteracy in America.