"Weigh Genealogical Evidence As Judge Would"- Be the Judge In Your Genealogy Court !

The following is from an article in the Tampa Tribune, circa 1995, author Ceta Armitage. The author wrote a genealogy column for the local newspaper. With the multitude of online family trees and genealogy databases available today, this article concerning citing sources and weighing sometimes too-easily-found "evidence" of our ancestry is even more relevant today. Unfortunately, when I hastily clipped this article out of the paper back in 1995 and tucked it away, I too made the mistake of not recording the exact date the article was published! I have learned to be more careful when compiling my source documentation and information. Hopefully the author will not mind my re-sharing this helpful piece,(especially since it was originally published for public consumption); which I only recently re-discovered when foraging through boxes of my genealogy documents and paperwork that had been in storage for years.

"Weigh Genealogical Evidence As a Judge Would"
"By Ceta Armitage, Special to the Tribune"

"A genealogist relies of evidence the same way a prosecutor proves a case in court."

"And the rules of evidence applied in court are the same to follow in genealogy."

"Preponderance of Evidence simply means proving a case by the greater weight of evidence, or offering such proof as to convince the court and jury that the party producing the proof is right."

"Evidence is information received, be it correct or false, whereas proof is the effect produced by this information. When sufficient evidence is presented, proof is established."

"There are few things in genealogical research that can be proved with an absolute certainty- unless it is possible to produce an eyewitness to birth, marriage, or death or an account of an event written immediately afterward; not months or years later."

"For example, a doctor who delivered an infant can testify to the identity of the child's mother. He cannot give testimony to prove the father of the child."

"Here are some guidelines to judge the reliability of genealogical evidence. Testimony of eyewitnesses is personal knowledge and is excellent, depending upon the competency and credibility of the witness. "

"Official records (land, probate, vital statistics, and other court records) are an excellent source and apt to be correct in most cases."

"Unofficial records (Church, corporation, etc) usually are good, although reliability varies."

"Family records (diaries, journals, letters, Bible records, etc) vary in reliability from poor to good."

"Newspaper files (contemporary accounts of births, marriages, deaths) are usually good sources; the hazard is the informant's knowledge and the possibility of typographical error."

"Family genealogies (printed and manuscripts) are usually good sources, but the test is who compiled the work and when, sources of information and whether you locate the records sued. Stories passed from one generation to another usually have been embellished with each telling and are unreliable."

"General printed works (county histories that have biographical accounts) are often unreliable because the accounts usually are included after a fee is paid."

"This writer has a 1983 book of a county in another state, more than 700 pages, with pictures of many ancestors to accompany the short accounts in it. But there are two articles by different authors on an ancestor couple of mine that disagree on may of the 'facts'. "

"You will need to record each item of evidence you locate and state why your decision favors one over another. These rules for judging the reliability of genealogical data are simply applying the rules of evidence- weighing the most reliable and least reliable information."

"It is hoped that these thoughts on rules of evidence will help researchers to judge genealogical facts in an objective manner. If you are able to do so, then you are the judge in this genealogy court."

"Since the judge's responsibility is great, you will need to consider your decision carefully."
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"Ceta Armitage is a member of the Florida Genelogical Society".