Documentation of Sources

Many professional genealogists have a scientific method for documenting sources of information. For the purposes of most genealogy hobbyists, though, it is sufficient to cite just enough information about your source to allow someone else to retrace your footsteps and find the information again. For example, if you found your great-grandfather's birthday in a marriage record, you should cite not only the marriage record as a source, but also the name of the county where the marriage record was found, the record number, and other distinguishing information that will allow someone else to easily find the marriage record again.

If you used your own personal knowledge, that's fine. Just write "Personal Knowledge" in your source field. However, it is always best if you can supply a document, such as a birth certificate or marriage certificate, that supports your information.

Records used to create genealogical documentation include the following: birth, baptism, marriage, divorce, death, burial, probate, census, property, military, and employment, as well as histories, letters, diaries, and biographies. There may be appropriate formats for citing each of these documents, but you don't need to worry about following all of the rules unless you want to publish your family tree professionally. Just remember this general rule of thumb: if you make it easy for someone else to look at your source citation and find the record you used to get the information, you're doing fine — and you're helping your relatives and descendants a great deal.

Some other things to keep in mind when you record sources:

• If you got the information from a book, microfilm record, or any other document, remember to state where you found it. Many times only a single copy (original), or a limited number of copies are available. If it is in a public facility, such as a library or county archive, remember to cite the name of the facility and the call number.

• If you want to cite your source using the proper bibliographic annotations, you should include the author or originator, the title of the reference, where it was published (or where it is housed or preserved), the year in which it was created, the page number of the reference, and sometimes the entry number within the page number. If it is part of a series, you should also include the volume number, part number, or year number.

• If you found some of the information in your family tree by talking to others, it is a good idea to provide the name, address, and phone number of the person who gave you the information. (Note: if you plan to contribute your family tree to the World Family Tree, we recommend that you not include this person's name and address, unless you have his or her permission.)

• If some of your information was passed down through the family, either in a family Bible or just through stories from one generation to another, record these sources too. Remember that memories can fade, so you may also want to describe how reliable you think the information is. This will help others who are looking at your family tree figure out how accurate each link in your family tree is likely to be, so they can do further investigation of unreliable information if they choose.

• Sometimes records exist that have been purposefully falsified. Be sure to make a note of records that may not be true, why you think they may have been falsified, and whether you know of any other documents that contradict the falsified document.

• If some of the information in your family tree is from a CD-ROM of genealogical data (such as the World Family Tree or the Social Security Death Index), record this as a secondary source. These CDs, while extremely helpful, are not primary sources, such as an actual marriage record or birth certificate. Primary sources are always more dependable than secondary sources, although secondary sources can save you tremendous amounts of time in your research. Remember that information in the World Family Tree was contributed by family history researchers like you — it is meant to act as a starting point from which to continue your research, not a source of completely accurate information.