[APG Public List] The reliability of federal census records for genealogi...

[JFonkert at aol.com]

Michael,
 
I think your assessment is mostly correct, although I would quibble with  
how you stated the question.  In your email, you asked: "does my analysis  
conform to the Genealogical Proof Standard?" Ordinarily, this is a question we 
 would ask of someone's research and analysis of a genealogical problem.   
Did the search, analysis and conclusion meet the expectations of the GPS?
 
Your article asks if census manuscripts meet the GPS.  I think this is  not 
quite the right question.  I think you are really asking: what do I  need 
to consider when evaluating information from a census manuscript?  You  hit 
on the central problems: who gave and who recorded the information?   Did 
they have reason to know the facts? Did they have any motive to give false  
information?
 
I would also quibble with the statement that the GPS "prescribes a  
fool-proof method: a reasonably exhaustive search." A reasonably exhaustive  search 
is certainly a good thing, but to say a reasonably exhaustive search  makes 
your research fool-proof is probably a bit over optimistic.  Your  
conclusion, however, is sound: information from any source should be correlated  
(and hopefully corroborated) with information from other sources.  As I say  in 
an article I wrote for Family Chronicle, do the Three C's:  correlate, 
corroborate and conclude.
 
Thanks for sharing our article.  It is good food for thought.
 
Jay Fonkert, CG
St. Paul, MN
 
 
 
In a message dated 11/3/2009 5:22:40 P.M. Central Standard Time,  
michael.hait at hotmail.com writes:

This message is being cross-posted on both the  TGF and APG Public mailing 
lists.
 
I just posted an article in my Examiner column  regarding the reliability 
of federal census records.
 
I would love to have some feedback.  Does my  analysis conform to the 
Genealogical Proof Standard?
 
Here is the link:  _http://bit.ly/wEzux_ (http://bit.ly/wEzux) 
 
Michael Hait
_michael.hait at hotmail.com_ (mailto:michael.hait at hotmail.com) 
_http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com_ (http://www.haitfamilyresearch.com/) 
Author,  The Family History Research Toolkit (_www.genealogical.com_ 
(http://www.genealogical.com/) )
Instructor,  African-American Research, GenClass.com (_www.genclass.com_ 
(http://www.genclass.com/) )
National  African-American Genealogy Examiner 
(_http://www.examiner.com/x-8873-African-American-Genealogy-Examiner_ 
(http://www.examiner.com/x-8873-African-American-Genealogy-Examiner) )


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Jay Fonkert,  CG
_http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/_ 
(http://fourgenerationsgenealogy.blogspot.com/) 
Saint  Paul, MN

Member, Association of Professional  Genealogists
(professional profile at _www.apgen.org)_ (http://www.apgen.org)/) 
Member, Genealogical  Speakers Guild
(professional profile at _http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/)_ 
(http://www.genealogicalspeakersguild.org/))   

CG (Certified Genealogist) is a service mark of the Board for  
Certification of Genealogists, used under license by Board-certified associates  after 
periodic competency evaluations.

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