About Genealogical Proofs

I include in the database information supplied by relatives, garnered from old letters, downloaded from the LDS website (Latter Day Saints), copied from old books, entered from World Family Tree (WFT) databases, and from email correspondents. I have found many errors, particularly in LDS and WFT records. Any entry based solely on one of these needs to be independently validated. I use them for inspiration on where to look next. In short, although many parts of the tree are strongly proved - particularly the genetic mainline of my sons' ancestors (in UPPERCASE) - the level of proof in other parts is low, and this should be kept in mind. My original goal was to understand the historical and geographical flows of people comprising my family. As I have come to understand the gross outlines, I have started to concentrate on the main genetic lines and proving them. I usually place a ? before the first name - proceeding back in time - in the main genetic line where the level of proof is insufficient. See Families for a general notion of the level of proof on the main genetic line.

In my books, on the other hand, I strive for complete proofs from original sources.