How do you cite your sources?

Question

I have been doing genealogy for several years without keeping good record of my sources. I'm beginning to see the need to keep track of sources better, and I have 2 questions. I'm entering my sources into Legacy 7 for an ancestor I know was born in February 1868.

1. The primary source of this information is the 1900 US Census which lists his birth as Feb. 1868. No other source in my possession gives the month. But I also have his 1870, 1880 and 1910 census that give an approximate year of his birth. Is it appropriate to cite all these sources for his birth, or just the ones that give the exact best date known (here, just the 1900 census)?

2. How do you keep your source lists manageable? For the family of the ancestor noted above, I have probably 30 different sources - including censuses, obituaries, family stories, pictures, birth/death/marriage certificates, etc. Is it appropriate to include every single one of these sources in my citations? The endnotes will be endless!

Answer 1

Ted's answers was excellent and you have to remember that as genealogist the more documentation we have the stronger our case is in proving the relationships going backward in time. Many people have a couple of census reports and copy things from other trees on Ancestry.com and think they have a valid genealogy. I use Legacy and about the only thing that I wanted to mention was that I always scan my census originals or download them from Ancestry and attach them to the person(s) they go with because if you only have the transcribed information then it's no longer the "original record" which is considered a secondary source to begin with.



I have a 3rd great grandfather who fought in the Civil War that has well over a hundred source citations, but I have others that I'm still looking trying to find anything to back up what little I have which is circumstantial at best. In the end, some people are really good a documenting and organizing their research and others, well its a hobby for them and they don't seem to take any part of the process too seriously.

Answer 2

First I don't even try to keep a source list manageable, they just are not. I do not include pictures or family stories as sources. I never enter any thing if I do not have some public record to verify that I am saying.



To actual cite a source I indicate the source information like 1900 US Census, the names of the town, county & State. Then I indicate where the original census is. Like the National Archives

and where I am getting my information Like copied from Ancestry.com. On the documents available on Ancestry a source is listed and you can copy and paste it into Legacy.

Answer 3

I use Roots Magic, so this may not work for you. I suspect it will, since if you can drive a Ford you can drive a Dodge. They all have about the same features and functionality.



First, I keep my sources at the person level, not the event. An obituary, for instance, may tell you birth date, birth place, parents' names, death date and place, even marriage date and place. It usually tells you where the deceased's siblings and children are living.



So, if I cite an obit I'll have the complete text in the notes for the person and a line, "See the note for John Smith for complete text" in the citation, which I may copy to a dozen people.



Second, RM has two levels of citation; source and details. Legacy must too. So, for instance, if the source is "History of Madison County", you'd have that in your source list and "page 14" as the detail for Arnold Anderson and "Page 323" as the detail for Zachary Zumwalt.



I have "US Census, 1850", "US Census 1860" . . . as sources. I put the state, county, township, ED and image number from Ancestry as detail. I transcribe the census entry as a note in the Head of Household, and put "See [grandfather | son-in-law | Uncle | ...] for census entry" as a note on anyone

who isn't a spouse or child. That is, if John Smith, 85, widowed but still going strong, is living with his daughter Mary and her husband Don Brakes in 1920, I'll cite the 1920 for John and put a note on John pointing to Don.



If there are significant differences, I'll note that in the note. I don't consider age variation of up to 3 years in the census significant. If, though, two other sources - the SSDI and the tombstone, for instance - are off, I'll put something like "1910 - 1911" as a birth year and note "John was born 01 Apr 1910 according to his tombstone, but 01 April 1911 according to the SSDI" in the note.



http://genforum.genealogy.com/ca/stanislaus/messages/575.html

is an "Ancestors of" report for a fellow who died in 1978. I traced his ancestors to 1850, for the most part. There are 165 source citations.

Answer 4

I use word processing for my ahnentafel, for the simple reason none of the genealogy programs allow one to enter the great amounts of info I have. At that, I have several hundreds of typed (in the computer) pages.

I use ancestor number, name, date/place of birth/marriage/death, other pertinent info, if available; then have on a separate line SOURCES: then list them.

Using word processing, all of the info for an individucal is available without flipping back and forth (and quite possibly getting lost doing so).

After sources, I list that ancestors parents, list spouse and spouses parents, then children. After that, I list 2nd, 3rd, etc. marriages if applicable.

Try it: it is so much less confusing than genealogy programs.

Answer 5

Each individual software has it's own Source feature. Do it for each individaul person no matter what the feature is. Much of the time you will use the same source for many persons in the same family. Ex: The 1900 cenus will be used as a source for husband,wife,children .If there are other relatives listed with them you will use the same source.

Mosr programs ask all the pertinent questions.

Answer 6

we've purely had printing kit in the final couple of hundred years or so, and because then, we've been able to reproduce something from then on with accuracy. something in any respect until now that has been hear say and the story teller could make his very own differences and advert his very own twist to make the story extra exciting. Goliath became 6' in accordance to a minimum of one teller however the subsequent could have made it extra exciting via probable making that 10' None of you are able to say this became top or that became, as background has been interfered with that lots, it is many times fiction it quite is slightly in step with fact.