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