Why do I have to cite my sources?

Where did I find that census record?
Who gave me that photo of Uncle John?
I think I've looked at this book before?
What film number was that image of the probate record?

Any of those questions sound familiar?   We spend hours researching our family history in libraries, at the courthouse and on-line.  Searching and finding wonderful treasures...yet if we don't document where and when we got those items, we may never be able to trace our steps back to that place.

Citing those sources helps not only us, but all those who will follow us after we are gone.  How many times have we wanted to revisit a source only to realize we did not cite where we got it.  And how many times have we perhaps copied a page from a book and not the title and copyright pages only to realize we need to look at a page before or after to get more information.   

The other part of that is to document the date we accessed it.  If you copy a page from a book, write on the top, bottom or back the date you copied it and the library or place you looked at the book.  I have gone back to a library to relook at a book, thinking I remembered where I had seen it only to find out-oops-it was another library not this one...

I have started also writing down the film number as well as the page number when accessing probate and other on-line sources that are "browse" only files.  It has saved me so much time and irritation to be able to go back and look again at the source.  I had found a guardian bond for an ancestor for a child.  When I realized there were three children, not one child, under 21 years old, I wanted to go back and look again for the other two.  I had not written down the film number, so had to "browse" again...yuk!  You can believe when I found the film again, I wrote it down!  

One last thing to think about.  We are in a way, being selfish when we don't document our findings.  We know how much work it took us, how many hours and dead ends we worked through.  Why would we want our family or any other researcher to have to do that work again, when all we have to do is cite our sources.  (Okay--getting off the soapbox now..)

[Here is how I do my "browse" documentations.
I copy the film number and page number, a note about the persons involved and then the Family Search citation, then add a copy of the film all in a Word document.  This way when I need to add this item to my Family Tree Maker, (or whatever kind you use), I have the whole thing together, ready to add to the person in my database.]

Film 73 page 72 William George Washington Going admin of estate of James D Going 1898

"South Carolina Probate Records, Bound Volumes, 1671-1977," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-19432-26194-13?cc=1919417&wc=M6NW-B29:210903701,211118801 : accessed 13 April 2015), Union > Returns book, 1881-1926 > image 73 of 443; citing Department of Archives and History, Columbia.

The right family found and documented in my database!

Thanks to the Genealogy Do-over challenge, I found a real problem today while verifying older files.

We have several Civil War letters back and forth between brothers and in-laws.  The names that I was trying to re-verify were for Willis, John, Green and William Sanders.   I had my ah-ha moment and was so excited.  I thought I had finally gotten the last little bit.  

While looking on Fold3 the other day, I finally found that the one brother's name was Green not Granbury as it shows in the 1850 US Census.  I looked at the letters and one was signed, Green Sanders.  

I found a Green Sanders in the house of John Sanders, Prairie Arkansas.  There was a William and John also.  Great!  Finally got the right household...well...not really.  The William in that household was only 7 years old.  He could not have been the father of the children in the 1860's file.  I pulled out my old files and the names were different.  Sure enough there are two Sanders families in Prairie Arkansas in the 1850 and 1860 US Census.  Both have a John, William and Green as sons.  

The kicker that answered the question was the neighbor, James C. Stephenson.  His sister married my great-great grandfather William Sanders.  She was in one of the households but not the other.  When I stood back and examined every line, it dawned on my what the problem was. (I love research logs now, by the way).  One was in Prairie County, Arkansas and the other was in Arkansas County, Prairie Township!  Without that closer look, I would have really been confused.  I knew my grandmother's family was in Arkansas County, not Prairie County.  Problem solved.

Thanks to those who are reaching out to the community like Dear Myrtle, Cousin Russ, Thomas MacEntee, Christa Cowan and many others, we are challenged to rethink and redo those lax areas of our research and refine those source documentations.  I am getting better at the research and the results thanks to all of you.

Our Family's Past Is The Foundation For Our Future

Roads always have a connection to where we have been and where we are going.

No matter how splendid or mundane, loud or quiet our families are the foundation we are building our own lives upon.  The good, bad or indifferent---it matters not.  Those decisions made from their lives effect ours.  If they laid a solid, honorable foundation it makes it a lot easier for us to pursue the same.  If they were careless and selfish we are indeed in a battle to become honorable citizens in our world.

Some of us would like to separate ourselves from those of our past.  We try to ignore them, forget them and perhaps try not to hate them for their decisions.  Yet we cannot seem to be free of them.  Those of us who suffered abuse at their hands or neglect, or any other damage have choices to make of our own in order to go forward in life.  Do we choose to forgive them and go on with our lives or spend untold hours in hatred and resentment.

While researching our family history, we will surely find men and women who made unfortunate choices that have sent ripples throughout our family history.  Men and women who were not careful in how they raised their children, who harmed them and others in their families.  Those who abandoned children and spouses, those who might have ended up in prison.  Do we feel anger toward them?  Do we hate them for their actions?  

It can be easy to make judgements against them through the end of the telescope we are looking through.  Yet, we weren't there and can not possibly know why they did what they did, or why they made those decisions.  What circumstances forces a mother to sell her children?  What could cause a man to abandon his wife and children?  When I first saw a photo of a woman and her children during the great depression with a sign "children for sale"...I cried looking at the pain on her face.  She had no way to feed her children and had reached a place of hopelessness.

Perhaps if we can look at our family's past with a compassionate eye, the sad and bad can be easier to deal with.  It can also let us examine our own contribution to the future generations coming along.  What do we want them to think about us?  Are we leaving a legacy of kindness and generosity or one of selfishness and greed?  I realize this sounds kind of preachy, but these are the kinds of things we deal with when doing our family genealogy.

I have started looking at my ancestors with an eye on their whole life, the good and bad to learn just who they really were.  I am learning to love them just like they were and to enjoy the journey a whole lot more.