What Can Be Deleted from Source Entries

Question

Hi All,

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but after trying several different search strategies, I gave up trying to find an existing thread.

I have a very specific question, but hope others will chime in with other odd bits found in source entries, so we can get some good general guidelines, or at least answers on more than one specific case.

Here's the source entry I'm looking at:

MyHeritage.com family tree. Title: Anne Pratt Slatin Web Site. Author: Anne Pratt Slatin. Page: Joseph Clinton. Family tree: stamford anne june 30 2009. Record ID Number: MH:S43. User ID: 3FAF0E17-483C-4AEF-930B-AF9278D5A1E3. Media: 65960211-2. Record ID Number: MH:SC114. Smart Matching Role: 2003922.

My temptation is to delete everything after "june 30 2009" but I don't use MyHeritage.com and really can't say whether or not any of that is of value.

Answer 1

I am no expert but my inclination would be when in doubt leave it all until you have better sources.

Answer 2

Is it the only source on the profile ?

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/GEDCOM-created_biographies

Comments

There are multiple sources, all from the same site, different trees, different codes in each entry, but all generally the same format and codes.  My thought is that all of the stuff I proposed deleting is meaningless to me, and probably most others, but it may be important if you use MyHeritage, and I wouldn't know.  The help page you linked doesn't really answer my question.  My instincts say to delete that stuff, but it's hard to do when you don't know what, if anything, in that might be of value.

Answer 3

You have two sources in there.

I don't use MyHeritage but others use it. I think the part after june 30, 2009 should also stay there as it is the exact link to the profile. And what if 2 profiles are the same or almost, a genealogist could use that part in his findings.

Personnaly, I would keep it.... specialy if it is the only source.

Answer 4

I use MyHeritage and I'd be inclined to delete everything after the date, largely because I have no idea how I would ever find a record from that information. But there may be other people who could make sense of those details.

It looks to me like this source is a MyHeritage "smart match", which means (in essence) that a MyHeritage user copied the information from another MyHeritage user, quite likely without being able to see any citations to sources (or even whether the original profile cited any sources).

Comments

Thank you, Ellen.  That is the kind of answer I was looking for - to have a MyHeritage user tell me whether or not those things were important.

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Further to my earlier comment:

MyHeritage website addresses include a 9-digit number that appears to be a UserID. URLs are in the form http://www.myheritage.com/site-999999999.

When I upload gedcoms created in Family Tree Builder (the software associated with MyHeritage), every data record in the uploaded gedcom contains the same "User ID" -- an alphanumeric string that has no apparent relationship to the UserID on my MyHeritage website.

Individual data records in my Gedcom uploads also have "Record ID Number" entries similar to the ones in Fred Remus' example. I have not discerned a relationship between these numbers and anything that is visible in Family Tree Builder or my MyHeritage website.

Accordingly, I don't think those User IDs, Record IDs, etc., found in MyHeritage "citations" will help anyone locate the MyHeritage profile.

Answer 5

I would separate the word source from the whole pararaph.  Then I would cut out the whole entry and paste it near the bottom of the profile as a clue on where to look for a proper source.

Comments

Yes, it's clear that isn't a great source.  It's much like Ancestry Member Trees, or Pedigree Resource File, or Geni.com user-submitted profiles.  And I'm not sure where you're proposing to paste it.  Sources are already at the bottom of the profile.

To me, a source entry on Wikitree should provide a good answer to the question, "Where did you get this information from?"  After that, everyone is free to judge for themselves how credible that source is.

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I have many Pedigree Resource File links posted on profiles I've made but I plan to delete them once I find primary sources.  I think of them as temporary and use them as an aide to look for information.  Once I find primary sources I delete them.  But I don't think of them as sources.  

As for where to paste it, after all the info is posted in the bio area that you have, you could insert a row and treat them as notes.  Otherwise, on every profile you would have to read every bit, every word of every source to determine as to whether or not is a source.  I think that's asking too much of readers to have to decide as to whether or not a source is credible.  For me a source is actual proof of an official document from a court or government agency and/or a book or document from long ago (like before 1800) that is generally accepted as fact.  I do see the need to post something, even the Mona Lisa was once but some chalk marks on a canvas but I would still put a space between such info and the word source .

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For you, and for anonymous below:  Genealogists make a distinction between primary sources (original documents from the lifetime of the individual), secondary sources (such as a book written by someone who has looked at the primary sources), and tertiary sources (someone who has looked at the book).  Primary sources are, of course, best.  But a source is just what I said - where you got your information from.

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Actually, Fred, not all genealogists use primary, secondary and tertiary in reference to sources. In fact mosts genealogists I know use the following distinctions:

A Source is either original or derivative. It's either the original marriage certificate, made at the time of the marriage, or it's a copy or a transcription-- i.e., derivative. For example, if I was to use the California Death Index as the source for my grandmother's death date and place, that would be a seconday source. Her death certificate made at the timie of her death is an original source.

The Information in a source is either primary or secondary. Primary information is provided by someone who was there at the event. The information I provided on my marriage license is primary. The information about a deceased person's birth date on his death certificate is secondary if provided by an informant who was not present at the birth. (i.e., the son or daughter of the deceased).

The Evidence suggested by the information in the source is either direct or indirect. It either directly answers the research question or it indirectly answers the research question. The date on my grandmother's birth certificate provides direct evidence of her birth; her age in the 1910 census provides indirect evidence of her birth.

More info.

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Thank you, Jillaine.  That is much more detailed than what I wrote, and makes perfect sense.  My point, however, is that it isn't correct to say, for example, "Ancestry Member Trees is NOT a source."  You can say without fear of contradiction that it isn't a very good source, but it is a source.

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I concur.

(I just can't help myself when I see the primary, secondary, tertiary thing applied to sources...) 

Answer 6

myheritage is not a SOURCE.  It's a website like wikitree. The entries there are put there by folks like the folks on wikitree. A SOURCE is a document- birth, death, marriage, will, land deed. A SOURCE is a reputable book like an encyclopedia, Burke's Peerage, Anderson's Great Migration.

Comments

I'd say that myheritage is a source, in that it's where the information came from. Ideally, myheritage would be a repository for sourced information. It should not replace a reputable primary source, like your examples.

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That's wrong Erin.  Just because my parents told me that Santa Claus is from the North Pole I shouldn't create his profile and for source I put my parents name, even though that's where I got the information.  Every child knows you would have to put as a source the Easter Bunny!

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Oh, sure.  And who, pray tell, is your source for the bunny?

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Milton S. Hershey

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A source is simply the place you found the information you're providing.

If you found your information on MyHeritage, than MyHeritage IS your source. It's not an original source-- it's derivative-- someone's copy of (probably someone else's copy of... ad infinitum) information. And the information on it is far from original. Nonetheless, if that myheritage web page is where you found your great-great-grandfather's birth date, then you cite that web page as your source.

But hopefully, we'd all go in search of better sources.

Answer 7

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register  1915 has   "The Clinton family of Connecticut"  starts with Lawrence Clinton b. 1643.  Clinton-421

http://books.google.com/books?id=oihAAAAAYAAJ&dq=The+Clinton+family+of+Connecticut&source=gbs_navlinks_s

My guess is that all of it may be from this article.    If so, probably can delete all of it with a more reasonable source.

Comments

Thank you, Philip!  I wasn't really expecting anyone to dig for better sources, but I DO appreciate it.  I will look at this and see if I can't dump most or all of the internet sources.