Accuracy in Our Records

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Oakland Temple & Fountain

Carol Holladay wrote such a beautiful Newsletter this week so I asked her if I could include it in the blog.  She kindly agreed. I want to keep it right here so we can refer to it whenever we choose.  Thank You, Carol!  And thank you, Marge, for your continual mentoring.  We miss you.

"Several weeks ago a young woman came into the library wanting to find her  great great grandfather and his family.  She knew he was born in Pennsylvania in about 1890 and had about 10 siblings.  I suggested she begin with a search of the 1900 census and follow him through each consecutive census.  When I checked back later, she had found not only her great, great grandfather, but his siblings and parents!  She was very excited that she met with success.  Checking the source of  her information, I found she hadn’t searched census record as suggested, she had found her great great grandfather and his family on an Ancestry family tree.  She was excited, her search was ended.  I had to pop her bubble and emphasize, her work had only begun; the names, dates and locations, need to verified for accuracy.  

“Let us, therefore, as a church and a people, and as Latter-day Saints, offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness; and let us present in his holy temple…a book containing the records of our dead, which shall be worthy of all acceptation.”  Doctrine and Covenants, 128:24

 As I have pondered this scripture, I wondered, if I were to present my compiled “Book of Remembrance” to the Lord would it be “worthy of all” His acceptation?”  Are my entries accurate and complete as possible?  Whenever possible, have I used primary or secondary sources?  Are my entries documented?  Have I personally done the research or just imported information from someone else’s tree?  Are the names and dates complete and correct?  Are all spouses and children accounted for?  Where photos are available, have I attached them?  Are my entries sourced? 

In the temple we speak of “exactness,” would my records qualify as exact? This certainly gives us something to think about. 

In a talk by Russell M. Nelson he said, “I encourage you to study and to search out… your kindred dead.”  We have felt the “Spirit,” “that draws people to identify, document, and cherish their ancestors and family members, both past and present.” In the Church we refer to it as the “Spirit of Elijah,” “which bears witness of the divine nature of families.”  This is a most important work which requires the greatest accuracy and care.

Here’s a sobering statistic, some years ago, it was determined that approximately 75% of the work in the old family group sheets also known as the Family Group Record Archives had mistakes.  Some, as simple as spelling errors, but many had the wrong children to linked to wrong lines thus making everything after that incorrect.  These are the foundation of Ancestral File and thus family tree!  Don’t rely someone else’s records; verify whatever you add to your family tree.  

I can think of no greater reward than this, we will come to know and love those for whom we have searched.  Well known genealogist, Elizabeth Shown Mills said it so well; “A modern genealogy – appropriately done – is a history in microcosm. Our research projects study up close and personal small slices of the past.  We pluck individual from the nameless masses that historians paint with a broad brush.  We learn their names. We follow them from birth to death.  We see the actual effect upon human lives of the grand world events that historians write about wars, economic depressions, plagues, politics, and persecutions.  We see how one humble person and is or her neighbors can reshape a community, a state, or a country.  Then we repeat the process generation by generation.”

 Last, but not least I quote from Marge: “so, if we are doing that, if we are learning and studying and researching, and being the finely analytical scientist we should be as genealogist, why do we have a bad reputation among scholars in other fields.  I believe the same internet that has made research easier, that has brought wonderful resources to our very homes and finger tips, that has made it easier to co-ordinate our own research with others working on our lines; this same Internet had helped non-genealogist, the hunter-gatherers in our field, disseminate their junk into databases all over the world.  The same world-wide web that makes it easier to find good information makes it possible to fill cyberspace with incorrect information. In fact, the very act of publishing on the internet gives legitimacy to what is far from legitimate.” 

 

You get the point, let us teach our patrons through example and our research “containing the records of our dead…be worthy of all acceptation.”  

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 Bonnie here:  This reminds me of what my mother use to say.  Don't bother doing things half-way.  You'll just have to do it again.

I'll claim this one!

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