"Good enough" citations? We can do better.

Have you heard all the talk? Some people are afraid to write anything because they might make a mistake. So -- instead of helping them learn, the idea is that people should just . . . rite enny way she, yknow, feelzlike, cuz y'all'll B all lk aright I git it man so

No, I just made all that up. But it is essentially the argument prolific geneablogger James Tanner (Genealogy's Star) and his commenters have made about citations: don't worry about doing them right, just do them. As long as we can manage to figure out how to find your source, it's OK.

I think Mr. Tanner is about 50% right. We all hesitate to try things when we're not sure we can succeed. Encouragement is in order. As I said in my February 2013 Illinois State Genealogical Society webinar on citations, "Something is better than nothing." But better somethings are better. Education is also in order. (Hobbyists who don't want to be educated, please consult this post from last November.)

Contrary to Mr. Tanner, citations have more than one purpose. As Elizabeth Mills has said repeatedly in Evidence Explained and elsewhere, they are not just about finding the source again, they are also about evaluating the source's quality and quirks. And as Thomas W. Jones adds in his new and excellent book Mastering Genealogical Proof, they also communicate to our readers how well we have made our case, how well we understand the sources, and how solid they are.

(And before anyone starts up with horror stories about the so-called "citation police" who abuse people who misplace a semicolon: Prove it. I have never met any such person. Elizabeth and Tom are the kindest people I know, even when correcting gross errors.)

Citations are a language. We need to learn the language for all the reasons above. We can get by with a few phrases laboriously memorized and mispronounced from a tourist book, or we can immerse ourselves in the language and learn it well. Our choice will depend on our purpose: a weekend in France, or convincing colleagues and relatives who our French ancestors were.

If we speak broken French we may be able to find a bathroom, but we are not likely to persuade any French speaker that we know what we are talking about. It's the same with citations and genealogy: We may be able to understand someone who cites incompletely and carelessly, but we may not value their opinion highly. That's just the way of the world. Knowing the language makes it easier for us to talk together, and it shows that you care.

One other point: even if citations were only for finding our way back to the source, we don't always know what the future holds. What is obvious to us sitting in the library or archive may not be obvious to our grandchild 60 years from now. Today it seems hilarious overkill to identify the URL of a census on Ancestry.com or the NARA microfilm publication it derives from. But when Ancestry gets bought or merged out of existence by some as yet unborn Chinese corporation, our descendants may appreciate any clue they can get as to where that information was found. Of course this goes double for less stable web sites.

As genealogists we have to take a wide view. I cannot assume that La Porte is only in Indiana, or only in the United States. One goal of standard citations is that they will be understandable to anyone coming from a different time or place. That's why we put in a lot of context that we personally may know by heart. All those dedicated old folks who carefully pasted newspaper clippings into scrapbooks without labeling or dating them -- they were provincial. We may be grateful to them, but we can't afford to be like them if we want our family histories to last.

And, yes, this does have a personal dimension. I recently encountered the following informal citation:

"Bible record published 1939 by Noel C. Stevenson, Alhambra, California, vol. 1, bible #91."

I can't find it. I am asking an expert genealogy librarian for help, and I'm now asking the readers of this blog: Please embarrass me by locating it easily! If the person who wrote this "good enough" citation had taken only a little more care, there would be no problem.




Harold Henderson, "'Good enough' citations? We can do better," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 21 June 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

It's Gone! Now What?

Someone asked a good question following my citations webinar last week (still listenable here if you're an Illinois State Genealogical Society member): how do you deal with a situation where the image you have cited is no longer on line?

For me, and I'm sure many others, it's not an academic question. Thanks to a typically non-transparent Chicago contract negotiation, FamilySearch no longer provides images for many Cook County, Illinois, records, including this one which figures in my talk coming up in May at the National Genealogical Society conference in Las Vegas:

City of Chicago, Department of Health, Record of Death no. 2510, George Edw. Chilcote 1914; digital image, “Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1878-1922,” FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 28 September 2011), citing Family History Library microfilm 1,239,982.

Technically the citation is still accurate, as the image was there on the date of access. But it's no longer available. The index remains, but relying exclusively on indexes is no fun and bad genealogy.

I still have almost three months to make up my mind, but three -- make that four -- courses of action seem appropriate:

(1) At a minimum, add a note saying that the image is no longer available on the site, and possibly not on the internet at all.

(2) Refer to an alternative. In this case, the obvious alternative is the Cook County Clerk's site. This site does have an index and a reasonable open-records policy, but charges $15 per copy and has a notoriously incomplete index. Mr. Chilcote's 1914 death is not indexed there, so at best ordering it will be an adventure.

(3) In my case, since I downloaded the image when the opportunity was there, I can cite it as an item in my own possession, much as I would a family quilt.

(4) If you didn't download the image when the opportunity was there, you could order the microfilm and view and cite that, or view it somewhere that has the microfilm on indefinite loan, or hire someone to do so for you.

Other thoughts welcome . . .


Harold Henderson, "It's Gone! Now What?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 20 February 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

 

Citations as a New Language

Think of learning to cite sources properly as learning a new language. Even a few words and a notion of syntax will be much better than nothing. The natives will smile when you show some fluency and ask for help.

More along these lines at my Illinois State Genealogical Society webinar Tuesday evening, "The Best Present You Can Give Yourself: Citing Your Sources."

Midweek Wonderings

(1) Why don't more genealogy conferences adopt the Illinois State Genealogical Society tradition of a "white elephant" table where members or member societies contribute their obsolete or unwanted materials, and those who take them put a donation in a jar? One genealogist's trash can be another one's treasure.

That's where I picked up my copy of the BCG Standards Manual back in 2007. I naively supposed that with a 2000 publication date it was out of date. This year I obtained a CD of the Social Security Death Index and a number of possibly obsolescent print publications. It's like a combination genealogy bookstore and flea market.

(2) Would the new investors in Ancestry.com treat it differently if they or their spouses were themselves genealogists? Would their fellow financiers make fun of them if they did?

(3) Did you ever hear a lecture on brick wall solutions and the very next day hear someone who hadn't been there asking about the same kind of problem?

(4) Would I have posted every day for the last six months without the encouragement of my manager/daughter-in-law? No need to wonder about that one.


Harold Henderson, "Midweek Wonderings," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 23 October 2012 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

Illinois quarterly spring issue

The Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly (Spring, volume 43 number 1) features documented articles about two professional men. Neither has known living descendants.

Banker William Moody Dustin (1828-1917) of Lincoln, Logan County, Illinois, had troubles both financial and marital. (You'll feel better about your taxes.)

Physician Carl Clement Lawry (1876-1953) of Freedom Township and the tiny town of Harding in La Salle County, was the more successful. And for researchers in that area, he left us a valuable resource -- his 1911-1916 account book, with well over a thousand entries alphabetized and transcribed in the magazine. The article includes a well-deserved shout-out to the La Salle County Genealogy Guild.

Upgrading Illinois

Two recent announcements of upgrades to already valuable resources. I'll let the announcers speak for themselves:

The Newberry Library's ChicagoAncestors.org, where mappable items from local publications are now appearing.

The Illinois State Genealogical Society's web site, including online databases. ISGS of course will be hosting the Federation of Genealogical Societies annual meeting in Springfield this fall.

ISGS is blogging!

The Illinois State Genealogical Society has a blog, under the stewardship of versatile geneablogger Thomas McEntee. Keep it on your radar screen -- the Memorial Day offering is a list of the state archives' online veterans' databases.

Your ancestor's been working on the railroad

Craig Pfannkuche, of the McHenry County and Chicago genealogical societies, and of the Chicago & Northwestern History Society, made a strong case at last week's Illinois State Genealogical Society conference for genealogists to pay a lot more attention to railroad records.

How come? At least four reasons: the railroads were the largest single industrial employer in the US in the 19th century; they were record-intensive operations, having to run widely scattered operations consistently and efficiently; they were labor-intensive operations, and needed to hire people of almost all trades, and none; and many of their records have been lovingly preserved by both general-purpose archives and by history societies like the CNWHS. If the listing linked above doesn't make you drool, check your pulse.

Better yet, Pfannkuche, as genealogical chairman of this latter group, will respond at no charge to requests for lookups -- if you have a reasonable idea of the time, place, and railroad your people may have been involved with. Given that tiny hamlets with no visible rail presence today were often thriving centers of activity a century or more ago, that requirement may not be as hard to fulfill as you think.

Illinois Fall Conference October 24 in Elgin

No, it is not too early to be thinking about fall conferences. No time or money for the big national events? There's good stuff closer to home. Western Illinois' own Michael John Neill is the featured speaker at the one-day, four-session conference of the Illinois State Genealogical Society at Elgin Community College Saturday, October 24. Also Craig Pfannkuche on railroad research, Lesley Martin on "Finding Your Roots in a Chicago Building," and Tina Beaird on preserving family heirlooms, and more. Program and directions here and registration here.

Illinois' Winter 2008 Quarterly

The Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly does a better than average job of publishing more than record transcriptions. In the Winter 2008 issue editor Oriene Morrow Springstroh organizes them under the heading of "Telling Our Stories." "Don't be discouraged if your children or grandchildren aren't interested in what you have to say right now," she advises. "There are others to follow in the coming generations who wil cherish your words and be glad to meet you through the work you have done for them. They will also wish you had written more." In the issue:

"Coffee Time," by Gary K. Hargis

"Olivia's Story," by Jane Gwynn Haldeman

"James Miller Morrow of DuPage County, Illinois -- In His Own Words"

"Faces from the Past -- Identifying Photos with Marge Rice"

"How to Start a Writing Group for Your Society," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh

*"Using School Record Books," by Robert W. Frenz, with a focus on McHenry County

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basir

"Family Bible Collection," comp. Kristy Lawrie Gravlin

* footnoted.

Illinois' fall quarterly

I'm looking forward to catching up with this issue, which arrived during my hiatus. A lot of material here, including some from my home county!

Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly 40(3), Fall 2008

"Personal Journals, Diaries, and Old Letters in Genealogical Research," by Bryan L. Mulcahy

"Confessions of a Puzzled Genealogist," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh

"Joseph Bigham, Jr. -- His Remembrances of the Bigham Family History," tr. Phyllis J. (Bigham) Bauer. (Montgomery County) "As soon as I could make letters I had to jot down on paper fathers accounts as he could neither Read or write."

"Richard F. Sutton's Story: A Revolutionary War Soldier -- Part 2," by Raleigh Sutton

"Faces from the Past -- Identifying Photos with Marge Rice"

"Sarah S. (Miner) Boyd," by Mark A. Miner (Fulton County)

"West Aurora [Kane County] School District finds lists of earlier graduates...," from the Aurora Beacon News

"Gravestone Recording: How to Conduct a Project -- how to Use the Data," by John E. Sterling

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basier

"1864 Award Winners at the Kendall County, Illinois Fair" [just in case you missed it the first time]

Illinois summer quarterly

The summer issue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly would be thin indeed without three very different contributions from DuPage County genealogist Oriene Morrow Springstroh. (ISGSQ has a new editorial team that's looking for contributions and feedback.)

But before we get to that, I've been delinquent in mentioning ISGS's 40th anniversary conference 18 October 2008 in Elgin (PDF) which among other things will include Beau Sharbrough on Footnote.com, Loretto Szucs on the "surprising benefits" of urban research, Susan Anderson of FamilySearch on their multiple new projects, and D. Joshua Taylor of NEHGS on technology and colonial sources.

ISGSQ Summer Issue 2008:

"Isaac Morrow -- A Civil War Soldier from Henry County, Illinois," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh. A well-documented tale, warts and all.

"Faces from the Past: Identifying Photos with Marge Rice," reprinted from Dead Fred.

"1925-1925 City Directory of Westmont, DuPage County, Illinois," extracted by Oriene Morrow Springstroh. This is not the DuPage County we know today: "Andy did what many new arrivals to town did. He put up a tent for his family, then built a shack to shelter them over the winter until he could build a real home."

"'Mike's Index' Continues to Gain Respect from Researchers," reprinted from ISGS's online March-April newsletter (PDF). A supplement and companion to PERSI covering 243 periodicals. (The selection of periodicals indexed is impressive but unfortunately omits what may be the best local Illinois quarterly, from downstate St. Clair County.)

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basir -- regular column, expert counsel on photo preservation and restoration.

"Confessions of a Lazy Genealogist," by Oriene Morrow Springstroh, with an example of "mining for ancestors": "While you reacquaint yourself with your documents, notice whether other names are mentioned besides those of your people," and make them known. Her example is ideal: a Civil War pension file.

Illinois Genealogy, 40 years of history

The Illinois State Genealogical Society is 40 years old, and this spring's quarterly celebrates by including a number of vintage articles and a portrait of founding president (and new member of the National Genealogical Society hall of fame) Lowell Volkel on the cover:

"Illinois State Genealogical Society Capsule History 1968-1983," from 1983

"Address by Theodore Cassady, Assistant Archivist, State of Illinois," from 1969

"Land Records in the Illinois State Archives," from 1969

"Early Illinois Immigrants," from 1969

"Illinois Historical Records Survey," from 1969

"Early Cemeteries in Chicago," from 1969

"A Short History of Revolutionary War Pension Resolutions," from 1969

Current articles:

"Finding Your Ancestors in History" by Margaret Kapustiak

"The Digital Revolution in Genealogical Research: What's Coming from Family Search, Part 2," by Susan A. Anderson

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basir

ISGS's 40th anniversary conference will be 18 October 2008 at Elgin Community College in Elgin, Kane County.

Illinois' winter quarterly with German pioneers

The centerpiece of the Winter 2007 isue of the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly is part 2 of Gary Beaumont's "German Immigrant Farmers in Illinois," featuring letters from Jacob Menke, who settled near Beardstown (Cass County) in the 1830s, and a diary by Johann Konrad Dahler, who settled near Mount Carroll (Carroll County) in the 1850s.

"Around us there are about 20 German farmers," wrote Menke, "including three medical practitioners with a degree, jurists, theologists, mechanics, even a mayor of Giesen, foresters etc. -- very educated people with whom we have a very pleasant contact.... We are likely to establish a reading or literary circle and a club..."

Dahler on the winter of 1856-57: "From beginning to end there was deep snow, on which smooth ice three inches thick had formed. When we needed firewood and went with the oxen to drag it in, they would go perhaps three paces on the ice and then break through.... We lost our 2 cows, which had cost 30 dollars apiece. We had a log stable for them and slough hay for feed but we lacked straw for bedding in the extreme cold."

Other articles:

"Illinois Resources: Where From to Kansas? Illinois!" by Cherie Weible

"Alderman Protects Family Graveyard," by Jeanie Lowe

"The Digital Revolution in Genealogical Research: What's Coming from Family Search, Part 1," by Susan A. Anderson

"Six Degrees of Separation or Two: Applications for 'Cluster Genealogy' and 'Genealogy Buddies,''' by Margaret M . Kapustiak

"Are You Killing the Things You Love?" by Patricia L. Miller

"Ask the Retoucher!" by Eric Curtis M. Basir

"Richard F. Sutton's Story: A Revolutionary War Soldier, Part 1," by Raleigh Sutton