Methodology Monday~Analysis and Correlation

Element 3 in the Genealogical Proof Standard is Analysis and Correction.

What does that mean and how do you go about doing it?

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

Analysis

Looking at your records to see :

Why it was created?
   What is the purpose of the record? To record birth, death, marriage, etc.?
When was it made? 
   At the time of the event of many years after?
Who crafted the document?  
    A government official, personal record, etc.
What condition is it in?
    Is it an original or transcription or a compilation of someone else's work?
    Is it clear and legible or in bad shape, torn and hard to read?
Where is it now, and where was it in the past?
   Is it still in the original office or owner or has it been passed down through many hands leaving it vulnerable to changes?
  Can you trust the information?
   Would there have been a reason to give false data such as a bride wanting to appear old enough to marry or a baby born longer than 9 months after a wedding, etc.?

What type of information does the record provide?
Your documents are either:
Primary-information coming from someone who witnessed the event
Secondary-information coming from someone who was told about the event
Indeterminable-supplier of information not known.

Each of these questions will help you to analyze the data recorded in the documents you find. The answers will help you to know if the information included is trustworthy.

Once you have analyzed each record for clues to your genealogy question, the next step is to correlate what you have found.

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

Correlation
Seeing What They Are Saying

Correlation means to look at all your pieces of information.
Do they agree with each other or do you have data that doesn't match- such as different parents,  conflicting dates, etc?
Timelines, charts, and spreadsheets are great ways to look at the data you have extracted from your records and see what you have.
Do you have documents whose informer was the same person? An example is a death certificate, obituary, and headstone. These need to be placed together as one source due to the fact the same person was asked to provide the information Whether right or wrong.
If you find conflicting information you must stop and try to resolve what you have found.
How? By looking at your analysis of each record and trying to determine which is the most correct.
You may need to do more research.

My post: Resolving Conflicts, another in the Methodology Monday series may help you with questions on how to get past the conflicts and determine the most correct piece of information if possible.

By analyzing the records you find and correlating the data contained in them, you will be on the path to finding the best answers to your genealogy questions.

How has using analysis and correlation helped you in your research?



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Helping you climb your family tree,

Motivational Monday~Evidence:What's Your Type?

       This month Evidence Analysis was the topic for my Progen Study Group. Our assignment was to take the records gathered for one individual and analyze them using the following criteria:

  A source is either:
      Original- first form
      Derivative-made from the original (index, transcription, abstract etc.
      Authored-Publish works

 The information is either-
      Primary-First hand account
      Secondary-Second hand account
      Undetermined-not known who gave information

The evidence is either:
      Direct-answers the research question itself
      Indirect- implies and answer but more needed
      Negative-absence of information that should have been there
   

   Why should you take the time to look at your sources and determine each of these criteria? Because not all sources are the same. The accuracy of the information contained in them depends on the type of record, who gave the information and how close to the actual time period it was made. A record that has been indexed,  or transcribed can be flawed due to human error. 
  Going through the analysis process will help determine if the information collected provides enough to come to a reasonable conclusion or if more research needs to be done. 
    
My analysis of the records of William J. Dorrity, my maternal 3rd Great Grandfather contains these types of sources. 
   Census Records from 1850-1880 are categorized as Original (digital copies), the information they contain is secondary (taken by the census taker but it's not known who gave the information), and they contain direct answers to the questions (whether they are true or not).  The 1900 census showed negative evidence of William Dorrity. He was not listed in the census and his wife was recorded as a widow. This "negative" evidence helps to pinpoint a year of death.

Martha Doherty
Recorded as Widowed
1900 Sumter County Census
Image from ancesty.com

 Military Records from the Civil War are Derivative (records made from copies other records), with primary information (made at the time of the event), and Direct evidence of military service and other information provided by the record.
     

W.J. Dority
Co. G, SC 20th Infantry
Muster Roll
Image from Fold3.com

  Newspapers provide Original (digital copies) information. Usually, a newspaper article was written about an event that recently happened and it can be classified as primary. This was the case with the newspaper accounts of William J. Dorrity's land being adjacent to another piece of land in a legal notice and the listing of his wife Martha in a Widow's Pension list. The legal notice is direct evidence that William owned land and where it was, and the Widow's Pension list is indirect evidence of the year of his death. 
           

Martha Dority
Widow's Pension List
Watchman and Southron
26 May 1897 pg. 7
Image from Newspapers.com

     Records can have more than one type of evidence. Usually, a death certificate is primary information of a person's death, cause, and burial, with the birth date and place being secondary. This is due to the fact that the death information is recorded near the time of death but the birth information is supplied many years after the fact and depending on the informant, it is at best secondary and often not reliable. 
  A family Bible can be primary information if each event recorded was done at the time it happened. It can also contain secondary information if births, marriages and deaths were written years after the fact. 

  If you haven't done so, take a look at your documents and other records. Analyzing the types of information they contain will help  determine whether you have good solid evidence or if you need to continue searching. 
 For more information go to: Cindy's List-Evidence Analysis
And for software that can help put it all together, I recommend using Evidentia.

Are we kin? Please contact me. Together we can find our people.
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