In the hierarchy of documenting a lineage, primary records are
the most desirable. Even when secondary sources seem to give reliable
information, it is always prudent to track down as much primary documentation to
support the secondary source as possible. However, because primary records can
be difficult to find, or to understand once found, many people applying for
membership in hereditary societies make the error of providing minimal or
inadequate primary sources.
The Mayflower Society wants primary
documentation in support of every generation on every lineage paper (it requires
it for the last three generations). It will accept "good" secondary sources -
particularly those that cite primary references. In extreme cases it will accept
circumstantial arguments, but not without proof that a diligent search has been
made for primary records. The more primary documentation presented with a
lineage application, the better case for acceptance.
A "primary" source
can be described as an acceptable record made at the time of an event or by a
reliable witness to the event (you were present at your own birth, for example,
but not a "reliable" witness to it). Acceptable primary records include birth,
marriage, and death certificates, Bible, church, cemetery, probate, and land
records, but there are many different kinds of records that may be
used.
Birth, marriage, and death records:
Vital
records (births, marriages, deaths) may be kept by the town, county, and/or the
state, each of which will have different parameters - when they began keeping
records, what clerk, registries or courts have the records, what records are
open, who can access the records, when, and for how much. Privacy and security
issues have tightened controls on access to records, particularly birth records
that might be used fraudulently, and some records may only be available to
family members and authorized individuals. In some cases certificates for
"genealogical use only" may be issued. One of the reasons that every researcher
should obtain copies of vital records now is the threat of having access to
these records closed in the future.
Guides to locating where vital
records may be obtained are available on the Internet (start with
www.cyndislist.com) and in print (see newenglandancestors.org research articles
and publications). There are also on-line services through which some state
level vital records can be ordered for a fee (ancestry.com's "VitalChek" for
one). If you are looking for a record in a state where births, marriages, and
deaths were kept by the town, it may be faster and less expensive to write to
the town clerk for a record - although this depends on the individual clerk.
The usefulness of a vital record depends on the detail of information
and the informant. In many places "short form" birth certificates are issued
which do not include the names of parents, or have limited information. These
"short form" records are not acceptable. "Long form" certificates with all of
the information from the original record are required, or a copy from the
original record itself. Birth and marriage records are usually the most reliable
(because informants are the parents or the individuals being married), death
records are often the least reliable (because the informant may be a distraught
spouse, grandchild, or unrelated person) - although there are exceptions to
everything.
Older records may be available on microfilm and/or online,
such as the Massachusetts vital records 1841-1910 available through
newenglandancestors.org. Many may also be found at libraries and repositories
such as the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Published volumes of vital
records may also be used.
Bible records
A family
Bible with "contemporary" records is considered primary. Contemporary means the
records were entered into the Bible at the time of the events or by someone who
witnessed the events. Handwriting can often be used to determine who made
different entries. Whenever possible, the title page of the Bible with the date
of publication should be submitted with copies of all of the pages with family
information. Provenance of the Bible stating to whom it originally belonged, to
whom it now belongs, and, if possible, identifying owners in between, should
also be attached to the copies.
Transcriptions or abstracts made from a
Bible that has been lost may be acceptable if the transcriber can be identified
and some information on when and where the transcription was made is provided.
Unless complete and literal, the transcription becomes secondary
evidence.
Church and Cemetery Records
Baptisms,
marriages, and burials were recorded by religious organizations. Many times a
record that was not kept by the civil authority may show up in a church record.
Gravestones may be the only surviving record of some ancestors. Local libraries
are often the best sources for knowledge of local churches, cemeteries and their
records. Religious denominations have regional or national repositories of some
records (such as Catholic dioceses). Rootsweb.com includes hundreds of
transcriptions from church and cemetery records scattered throughout the country
(on-line transcriptions or abstracts are considered
secondary).
Photographs of gravestones are admissible for the date of
death, age of death, relationship ("wife of") if given, and place of burial (not
necessarily place of death), although, like death records, they can be
unreliable (if the stone carver cut the wrong age, it was probably cheaper just
to leave it). Stones erected by a later generation are not contemporary.
Cemetery lot maps and records can be used to show family
relationships.
Probate and records
Probate records
can be extremely useful in proving connections between generations. Many probate
records have been microfilmed and can be accessed through the Family History
Library in Salt Lake City and other Mormon stake libraries as well as state and
local institutions, and in some cases indexes have been published on-line.
Most probates are kept by the county, although in a few states they are
kept by probate districts or the town. You can also find guides explaining the
types of probate (testate and intestate), terminology, and the various records
found in probate files. The most obvious are wills, which can make a direct link
between parent and child, sometimes grandchildren, but even estates without
wills may contain receipts, distributions, divisions, guardianships, etc., that
name heirs - such as the receipt given by John Littlejohn for the cow his wife
Sarah inherited from her father's estate, which is the only proof of who Sarah
married!
Not every ancestor left a probate record, of course. Probate was
required only when there was property, and many died without owning enough to go
through probate. Property, however, did not only mean real estate. Personal
estate (from clothes to furniture to livestock) was also included in probate. A
probate search should always be an important part of every genealogical case and
will often be requested by the Mayflower Society to prove or shore up a weak
link in a lineage.
Land records are difficult to use, but they, too, can
provide valuable information, particularly when other sources are not found. The
Mormon microfilms include deeds as well as probate mentioned above, but indexes
to deeds are less often found on-line. Usually, land records can be found in the
same courthouse or town hall as the probate records, so a search in one can be
supplemented by a search in the other.
A search in deeds is not as clear
cut as one in probate where everything will be found in a single file. The most
obvious land records for proving a lineage are those in which a parent deeds
land to a child with specific relationships stated, but most deeds do not give
relationships (which may have to be inferred through a series of records). Deeds
may be used to show migration - such as John Smith of Ames, Iowa, selling
property he had owned in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They may also be used to
identify spouses - e.g., John Smith and wife Jane selling land Jane inherited
from her father.
Because of the complexity of deed searches, the services
of a professional researcher may be useful. For the purposes of proving a
lineage, land records do not need to be consulted unless there is a particular
problem that cannot be solved with other records.
Other Primary
Records
The variety of other records that can be used to prove a
lineage is nearly unlimited. A few examples:
Pension Records:
Revolutionary War pensions are now available on-line (through
newenglandancestors.org) and in published abstracts. Not all pension records
contain genealogical information, but many provide proof of marriage (for a
widow's pension), names and birth dates of children, affidavits of siblings and
children, and sometimes actual pages torn out of the family Bible! Pension
records can also prove geographic migrations - e.g. that John Brown who served
from Massachusetts was the man who moved to Broome County, New York. Civil War
pensions can be obtained through the National Archives and branches, and World
War I Draft registrations are available online at ancestry.com.
Census
Records: Census records are not really primary records because the quality of
the census information was often compromised by the thoroughness and competency
of the census taker and from whom the information was obtained. The census taker
was concentrating on gathering statistics, not on proving lineages, thus
inventive spellings, odd ages, and other anomalies abound. However, because all
census records are now available on the Internet, a thorough census search for
any family is feasible and can enhance proof of relationships and migration of
families - Joseph Alden found in the 1880 census, for example, with ten
children; the first three born in Massachusetts, three in Pennsylvania, one in
Kentucky, two in Missouri, and the last born in Arkansas.
Tax and Town
Records: Tax records can prove residency and sometimes relationships when heirs
are named in succeeding tax rolls. They may be useful in differentiating between
two individuals of the same name living in the same location. Town records other
than births, marriages, and deaths may include "warnings out" (when individuals
or families were warned to leave the jurisdiction of a town where they did not
have a means of support), registration of cattle marks ( often inherited or
transferred to heirs); and land records. Some early New England town records
have been published - Plymouth, Duxbury, Scituate - and others are available on
microfilm. Usually un-indexed, original town records may be difficult to search,
but can be a source of last resort in difficult cases.
Family Letters and
Diaries: Original family letters or diary entries may be used to prove
relationships when the writer had personal knowledge of the information given.
The writer and person receiving the letter should be identified and the date of
writing included; envelopes with postmarks and addresses are also useful.
I have seen autograph books, samplers, school records, insurance
policies, medical reports, and many other eclectic items used to prove Mayflower
lineages! No stone left unturned is a genealogist's best motto.
That
said, applicants should not clutter their applications with extraneous records,
but should locate and submit the best records available to prove their lineage.