Chapter Seven Homework

Chapter 7 GPS Element 5 The Written Conclusion

 Homework:   Molly McKinley

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com] Jones, Thomas W. (2013-12-04). Mastering Genealogical Proof (Kindle Locations 598-599). National Genealogical Society, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The written conclusion can be three different forms: statement, summary or argument.  The difference is in the difficulty of the proving of a conclusion.  A statement is just that, stating a fact about an ancestor, with proof and no conflict.  The summary may have a few odds and ends off that really do not disprove your conclusion.  Lastly, there may have to be a long argument to show why we concluded an opinion where clear proof may not be available.

I am using the same family group from my family history to show all three of these types.

I.             Proof Statement:

               Clara Catherine Gaffney Hames was buried in the Belleview Cemetery, Belleview, Marion, Fl.[1]

 [2]

II.           Proof Summary:

               Clara Catherine Gaffney was the granddaughter of Michael Gaffney. 

·        Michael Gaffney and Mary Smith Gaffney had nine children.  They were named, Nancy Riley, Lucinda Riley, Melinda Riley, James Madison, Henry Green, Cornelius, Joseph Gustavius, William Godolphin and Thomas Westhaven Gaffney.[3]

·        Thomas Westhaven Gaffney married Missiniah Burns and they had 11 children. Their names were; Charles Hammond, Laura Ann, Florence Lenora, Mary Ellen, William Wallace,Robert Bruce, Helen Victoria, Elizabeth Margaret, Henrietta Jane,  Clarissa Clara Catherine, and Melinda Lucinda.[4]

·        In the 1880 US Census, South Carolina, Cherokee, Limestone, she is listed as an 11 year old child in the home of Thomas Westhaven and Misiniah Gaffney.[5]

III.          Proof argument

               How many children did Thomas Westhaven and Misiniah Burns Gaffney really have? My conclusion is they had 11 children.

·        In the newspaper obituary for Misiniah Burns Gaffney they state that she was from a family of 14 children and that she bore 14 children.[6]

·       

·        There are 11 known children all found in different sources.  Find-a-Grave lists the following: Charles Hammond, Laura Ann, Florence Lenora, Mary Ellen, William Wallace, Robert Bruce, Helen Victoria, Elizabeth Margaret, Henrietta Jame, Clarissa Catherine and Melinda Lucinda Gaffney.[7]

·        There are 11 children listed in the family genealogy book by Bobby Moss mentioned above (see footnote 3).

·        Lastly, the 1900 US Federal Census, South Carolina, Cherokee, Limestone, District 0007, shows she bore 11 children and 7 of them were still alive.[8]

·        This last one was the kicker for me.  There would be no reason to lie about how many children she bore.  She was 72 years old at the time and would certainly know how many children she had.  I had to conclude the newspaper article was erroneously reported and that she only had 11 children total.

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[1] Personal knowledge of the author, Molly McKinley, [Address for private use], personal experience of visiting the cemetery and photographing the gravestone.

[2] Hames, John T and Clara C. Gaffney tombstone, Belleview Cemetery, Belleview, (Marion County), Florida, photographed by the author in 2006.

[3] Bobby G. Moss, The Journal and Genealogy of Michael Gaffney From Ireland to the Backwoods of South Carolina, (Blacksburg, South Carolina: Scotia-Hibernia Press, 2004), 1-79.

[4] Ibid

[5] Year: 1880; Census Place: Limestone Springs, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: 1240; Family History Film: 1255240; Page: 257D; Enumeration District: 144

[6]   Misiniah Burns Gaffney, obit, The Gaffney Ledger, May 22, 1908, http://newspapers.com, accessed June 20, 2015.

[7] Misiniah Burns Gaffney tombstone, Providence Baptist Church Cemetery, Gaffney, (Cherokee), South Carolina, http://findagrave.com, accessed June 25, 2015.

[8] Year: 1900; Census Place: Limestone, Cherokee, South Carolina; Roll: 1522; Page: 10A; Enumeration District: 0007; FHL microfilm: 1241522

Chapter 6 Homework

Chapter 6: GPS Element 4: Resolving Conflicts and Assembling Evidence   

Homework: Molly McKinley

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com] Jones, Thomas W. (2013-12-04). Mastering Genealogical Proof (Kindle Locations 598-599). National Genealogical Society, Inc.. Kindle Edition.


I love this quote from this chapter:

"If we cannot resolve the conflict, we have no conclusion to prove. "

(location 1484 of 3958 Kindle version)

That pretty much sums up our whole purpose of collecting evidence through all the sources we can find.  If those sources cannot prove to us who our ancestors were, they cannot be used for evidence.
In other words, all the evidence we gather must be compatible to "prove" our statements about our ancestors.  While there may be small things like spelling of last name ie. Smith vs Smyth or date differences on Census records.  Those items could be accepted without losing who our ancestors in fact were.  The use of personal spelling, and the estimated dates used in census records do no disprove the connection of a person as your ancestor.  My 3rd great grandfather Michael Gaffney's name was spelled in different records as Gafny, Gafney, Gassney and finally Gaffney.  The other information on the sources proved that it was all the same man, so the spelling of the name while it may be conflicting does not disprove the relationship.


Sometimes we need to lay out the facts in charts, bulleted points, Excel spread sheets or some other means to get a better picture of the story.  As we learned in previous chapters, we must work on one question at a time to get a clearer picture.  At most three questions, example; birth, death and place of each.  Those are the basic facts to start a deeper understanding of our ancestors.  Working on one or two of these at a time, makes it a lot easier to research and fill in the blanks of our ancestor's life.
Along the research path, we may encounter other bits of information, for instance the names of siblings or grandparents.  While working on the original information search, we try not to get side tracked by the new "shiny object" just found.  I personally have a Word document opened and when a new piece of other family information pops up, I place it on that document-make a quick note, then get back to the original search.  That way, I don't lose the new information, yet am not side tracked from the current search.  What ever works for each of us gather information is fine, we just need to try to focus and go forward to keep the vision clear and concise.


For part of my homework I am sharing the thought process behind my recent Abbot discovery.  I had Ephraim Abbot in my file for several years.  Recently while looking at Essex Massachusetts probates I realized the Ephraim I had in my file had totally wrong information.  The wife and children were correct, but the death date could not be correct as he had children born for 20 years after his death.
I finally found the right Ephraim and matched up the wrong one to the correct part of the family.

The Ephraim Abbots of Andover, Massachusetts

Ephraim (1)    Born 1710 in Andover	Ephraim (2) Born 8-1-1718 in Andover
Father was Stephen Abott son of John Abbot	Father was an Ephraim Abbot, son of John Abbot
Married Hannah Phelps in 1734	Married Hannah Kneeland in 1745
Had seven children from 1735 to 1745	Had 7 children from 1745 to 1762
Died in 1745 in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts	Died in 1777 in Amherst, Hillsborough, New Hampshire
Had no will but probate package #40 shows his estate bills and inventory.  The administer to his will was his brother Stephen.[i]	Have found no will or probate as yet, but he did not have a brother named Stephen.
I found a family genealogy book written in 1847 with the families broken down by parenthood, marriage and death.  It was here I found the correct Ephraim to match the probate record above. They had listed Stephen and Ephraim in the same household as brothers. [ii]	This one is my ancestor.

Below is one of the pages from the probate record, stating Stephen was the brother of Ephraim.

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[i] Ephraim Abbot estate, Essex County, Massachusetts Probate file 40, Probate file papers, 1638-1881, Essex County Archives, American Ancestor website (http://www.americanancestors.org/index.aspx)

[ii] Abbot, Abiel D.D., Genealogical Register of the Descendents of George Abbot, George Abbot, Thomas Abbot, Arthur Abbot, Robert Abbot and George Abbot, James Munroe and Company, Boston, Massachusetts, 1847, pp 1-17

Chapter 5 Homework

Chapter 5 GPS Element 3:  Analysis and Correlation    Homework:  Molly McKinley


Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com] Jones, Thomas W. (2013-12-04). Mastering Genealogical Proof (Kindle Locations 598-599). National Genealogical Society, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

GPS Element 3: Analysis and Correlation answers:

To keep from infringing on Dr. Jones’ copyright I will answer the questions using one of my own record citations.

This is the marriage license of my great uncle Thomas Lafayette Hames:

("Florida Marriages, 1830-1993," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23CN-R1L : accessed 3 June 2015), Thomas L Hames and Katharine L Feuchter, 16 May 1942; citing Marion, Florida, United States, county courthouses, Florida; FHL microfilm 1,872,211.)  

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23CN-R1L

Questions	Answers	Explanation
Is the source authored work, original record or derivative record?	Original (digital image)	Marriage certificate produced by the state of Florida
Who is the informant?	Thomas L Hames, Katharine Feuchter and Judge D.R. Smith	The judge stated his actions, the other two would have given their own name, etc.
Is it primary, secondary of indeterminable?	Primary	It is an  image of the original document
Does it provide direct, indirect or negative evidence?	Direct
Why was this source created?	To certify the marriage of Thomas Hames and Katharine Feutcher took place legally in the state of Florida
Was there a time lapse between the date of the event and the source’s creation?	No
Was the record keeper careful?	Yes
Was the source open to challenge, verification or correction?	No
Was the source protected from bias, fraud or tampering?	Yes
Was the informant reliable as both observer and reporter, or did they show potential for bias or other factors that would affect reliability?	Yes
After answering the questions above, how useful is this source to provide evidence?	Yes	The information provided is a legal document, used to prove a marriage in the state of Florida
[questions are based faithfully from the questions on location 1442/3958 of the Kindle version of the book, so that the answers would be true to the book’s quest]

MGP Chapter Four Homework

MGP Chapter Four                                                     Homework:  Molly McKinley

GPS Element 2: Source Citations

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com]

Jones, Thomas W. (2013-12-04). Mastering Genealogical Proof (Kindle Locations 598-599). National Genealogical Society, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The five questions we must answer  to make good citations:

1. Who?  Answers who are the person or organization who created the source.  If that information is unknown, we simply leave that part out.

 Ex:  newspaper obit does not usually have the person who scripted it.

2.  What?  The next element is the title of the source.  If it is a published item, we then would italicize the title.  (ex: journals, books, websites or newspapers)  If the title of part of a published work is cited, that part precedes the actual title. (ex:  “Walking Alone in Widowhood” Living a Good Life After He is Gone.)   If it is an unpublished work there is no need for quotes unless if the title is used to ensure its identification.    If there is no title in an unpublished work, we would simply describe the item. (ex: photo of Uncle John at Smith Lake). 

[When I don’t know the title or if there is not a title, I try to describe what I have before me. If it is the buttons from my grandfather’s WWI uniform, for example, I would start it like this: Military buttons from the WWI uniform of John Freeman Hames.  The person takes over my research would then know what they were looking at (the photo of the item).  I might actually take the same citation note and make a copy to place in the box containing those very buttons.  That would make the matching of item to source easier.]

3.  When?  For books, microfilms, CD or the like, we cite the year published.  We would need the month or season for journals and magazines (ex: Spring, 2003).  Newspapers need the exact date of issue and downloaded items would need the downloaded date.  We also need to put the date we accessed those online sources.  The URL might be long gone when we try to backtrack that source again.  By documenting the date when we found the source, we can do better research.  Those things like photocopied pages from a book we got 20 years ago and did not think to write when on it, we would make an approximation of when we copied it. [After doing this study, I might not use one of my old copies like that as it could not really be used to prove anything without having to find the original again.]

4. Where in the source?  We would need the volume, page, chapter, folio or other identifying information to show where exactly is the item you cited.  It may be even an identifying statement as to the source section (ex: marriage index, S-T section). 

[I am not sure how you would use this part in a family photo, unless you were pointing out the arrangement of a group shot. Ex: Grandma Joan Smith is the front row, 2nd person from the left.]

5.  Where is the source?  This question answers the question as to where the person needing to find it needs to look.  If I own the book, I would state that the book is in the possession of Molly Mckinley, with my address or at least my city listed. [I do not have my personal address in my public citations of items I personally am caretaker of.]   If we have a photocopy of the item, it is in our possession, even though the original book may be in a local library. [I have always cited the library where I got the copied page from in case others want to do further research in that same book.]  This part of our citation needs to have enough detail for the one seeing our family history can also find the source.  We may need to include the agency, office, city and state, file section, online URL, part of the website we found it in, or location in a repository.  When using online sources, we can actually put the URL link as clickable to aid in retracing our steps.  That way we can quickly check to see if the source is still available.  Truly any and all details needed to retrace our steps.

I liked the fact that Dr. Jones gave us some places to find guides for creating better citations.  There are so many things genealogists collect that are out of the norm.  We have old quilts, Great-Grannies wedding dress, buttons from uniforms, photos, journals, old letters, postcards, and even old tools that were handmade by our ancestors.  We need to know how to craft a citation that both explains and details those items.

The use of reference notes and source lists was a little confusing.  Thankfully, I listened to the two previous recordings of the class and that helped clarify them.  I realized I needed to use a source list, especially to keep track of all those sources I have used, and those I looked at but did not find any record of family in them.  I do have a Research Log, thanks to Cousin Russ, that I try to use faithfully, but this would be a simple list of all the places I have looked for ancestors.  It would seemingly be a lot easier to look through at a glance, than the detailed research log that includes my findings.

Chapter Two Homework

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? What is your Question ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Chapter Two: Concepts Fundamental to the GPS Homework: Molly McKinley

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com]


Since our moderator, "Dear Myrtle" asked us not to literally answer the questions from each chapter. it seemed better to look at what this chapter was addressing and answer that question in my own mind.

The whole basis of fulfilling the five parts of the GPS pivots around questions. All those questions running around our minds concerning a new ancestor we found. In this chapter, Thomas W. Jones, shows us how to narrow down the search to answer one or two questions at a time.

The need to "know all" pushes us to want to grab anything we can about a certain person we are researching without careful study of each piece of information. Another issue is the "copy-and-paste" habits we pick up in this on-line world we live in. Every piece of information we find will not be for our ancestor and to grab and add it to our database really causes us lots of issues in the future.

I liked the way he has us look at the main two issues when asking questions about our ancestor. We are usually stuck in one or the other mode...too narrow or too wide in our questions. "Who was Sally Smith?" or "What is the exact date John Smith was born?". Either one is not a good enough question to ask.

He showed us how to add supporting questions to our original one. The where and when questions help us form a better picture of what we are really wanting to know. The who were and whose questions help us determine family relationships.


Sources
The subject of sources is very deep and wide. And the quality and accuracy of the sources available are always questionable. They may be published or unpublished written items, photos, diaries, grave stones, scrapbooks, indexed records, microfilms, oral histories recorded, and even needlework like samplers where the person dated and named the creator.

Records are created to document or save all sorts of events. My favorites are military files, family Bibles, birth, marriage and death certificates and also probate files. There are so many records that are rich in family history, that fill out the whole of the ancestor we are researching. It makes their story come alive for us.

A source is the whole item, not just a piece of information gleaned from the source. They are containers for the content we seek. Those books, census records, birth and death certificates, deed and wills are in the sources.

Sources are generally categorized into three areas: authored works (like family histories), original records (those not based on prior records) and derivative records (those which have been transcribed, abstracted or translated).

Informants
Informants are the way in which the source is created. It is the "who created" in the source. There are three classifications of informants. primary (the eye witness), secondary (information gotten from someone else) and indeterminable (either a group of informants or unknown informants) I have a letter that was written to my grandmother...unfortunately the last page with the writer's goodbyes is missing....that person is my unknown informant.

The bottom line is that the source or container may have information, the content, that has all three types of informants involved. A death certificate comes to mind. The doctor who signs the death certificate is primary. He uses his knowledge to determine the reason for death and states the date and time to be recorded on the certificate. On that same certificate there may be the parents' names and birth places, also the deceased birth date. Those pieces of information may or may not be accurate due to the informant's, usually the spouse or child of the deceased knowledge. So in the same source you may have accurate and inaccurate information.


Question 5: Three relationship questions for my own research.

1. How did the marriage of E.R. Murry and Rufus Saphroney Black end?

2. Where did Joseph Elijah Williams really die?

3. Where is William Skidmore buried?

Chapter One Homework

Thomas W. Jones, Mastering Genealogical Proof (Arlington, Virginia: National Genealogical Society, 2013). [Book available from the publisher at http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/mastering_genealogical_proof , also available
in Kindle format through Amazon.com]

Chapter One: Genealogy’s Standard of Proof                                      Homework:   Molly McKinley

Question one:  Genealogy is the field of research that strives to accurately and carefully reconstruct those forgotten or even unknown identities and familial relationships.  This study includes both those who have passed on and those who are still living.  The basis for these studies may borrow from other fields of study such as economics, genetics, anthropology, law and certainly history.  It can be a hobby, strictly for fun or it can be a full-blown career.  Either choice does require a set of standards and rules in order to keep the information gathered as correct as possible and leave a legacy for those who come after the researcher to be able to follow easily.

Question two:  The five GPS elements are:

            1. Thorough searches in those sources that will help answer a research question.

            2.  Creating informative citations to those sources for every information item that contributes to the research question that is being asked.

            3.  The researcher must analyze and make comparisons of those sources and information items to assess their usefulness for use as evidence to prove the question being asked.

            4.  The researcher needs to resolve, as much as possible, any conflicts between what he believes to be so and what he has found in his research so far.

            5.  The researcher needs to have a written statement, list or narrative to support the evidential proof he has found.

Question three:  Should someone decide they want to use all the family history the researcher has found, without accepting all the source citations and proof evidences, the researcher should try to explain why the person needs those proofs and decline to share without them.

Question four:  A genealogical conclusion cannot be partially proved due to the GPS’s five parts being an interwoven set of rules.

Question five:  The first part in genealogical research is a series of questions set forth.  Those questions are then answered one-by-one.