Whats my best option, free space profile?

Question

Good Day

So I've recently signed the honor code and I'm very excited to start adding my family tree.

Most of the information I am citing is from a Family Tree Book ("familie stamboomboek) that I received as a gift from my Grandmother.

This book contains photos, certificates, memories and loads of facts and interesting information.

How would I cite this book when adding information to profiles. I have scanned copies available of almost every single page.

Various documents (ie Birth Certificates) confirm facts for multiple family members and can be used as citations on various profiles?

Looking forward to some feedback

 

Thanks!!

Answer 1

Quinton,

While it would be correct to simply add a source showing the book and noting that it is in your possession that might not be the best solution.

As you have made copies of documents it would seem better to create the profile then add the documents relevant to the profile as needed.  As an example take a look a the first source for Albert Smith (1814 - 1885)  - Mary Jane (Griffin) Smith. letter Apr. 14, 1914 "Dear Children". Copy in Mary Jane (Griffin) Smith. images.  When you go to the profile for Mary Jane and look a the images you see a copy of the letter.  This particular letter is used in a number of profiles. (You need to click on View All for her images.)

It would be fine to add a document to a free space and then profile links.  Most of the time time I find it better to associate the document with the author when possible.

The problem with referring just to the book is that if someone wishes to check the information or look at the original it is more difficult than doing it as shown above.  I try to think in terms of - what if someone 50 or 100 years from now wanted to check my work how could they do it?  By providing access to the few unique documents in my possession this method seems to work best. 

Comments

Thank you for your feedback and assistance!

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Phillip is correct in that the source will be hard to others to check for the validity of the events, names and facts.

What I did is created a free-space page description of my source ( which was a typed manuscript of a cousin's family that was donated to our local library ). I put up a couple images of the book; gave my contact information if anyone was interested.

I then created a bibliographic source ( Rick Pierpont gives excellent instructions up here at WikiTree ).  PLUS, did original research to check on my cousin's work as she did not cite sources in her work. It is still a work in progress but very satisfying to get it out there.

Here is an example of what I did:

http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:A%20Contribution%20to%20the%20Genealogy%20of%20the%20DOLL,%20WEPPNER,%20FORNES,%20GARANO,%20WILLIAMS%20&%20Related%20Families%20of%20Buffalo,%20NY.%20Compiled%20by%20Lillian%20Barrett%20Doll,%201964.

 

 

 

Answer 2

As one solution: One of the government offices in Ohio had issues a birth certificate for my grandmother almost a hundred years ago, but couldn't find the record in their own files now. I sent them a copy, and they finally were able to find the original and it is now part of their record. Some documents are online, or the agency involved can be helped to put it online, and then it can be cited. If you have access to online records, your documents might be online and they can be cited from there. Good luck!

Answer 3

Does this book cite where they (she) got the documents?  I'd say the general policy here is that if you get a govermnent document from a government office you can post scan of it here directly and link it to applicable profiles or to a free space profile.  If you copy it from a company, you may make a copy for your personal records but shouldn't post it as a picture here. The big sources like Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org have built-in citations and source material which you can cut and paste to your profiles.  Since I have mostly been using sources I copied to my own computer Eg. Censuses from Ancestry.com and Ohio Birth Certificates from  FamilySearch, I just create an interim citation and source, but I intend to eventually do another round of all my sources and do them the more correct way.  For now I'd advice you to do the best you can with what you have, including this book and see what feedback you get.  It's easy enough to go back and improve things once you have had more experience. So dig in and have fun!