How To Cite Genealogy Sources
How do you cite your sources?
I have been doing genealogy for several years without keeping good record of my sources. I’m beginning to see the need to keep track of sources better, and I have 2 questions. I’m entering my sources into Legacy 7 for an ancestor I know was born in February 1868.
1. The primary source of this information is the 1900 US Census which lists his birth as Feb. 1868. No other source in my possession gives the month. But I also have his 1870, 1880 and 1910 census that give an approximate year of his birth. Is it appropriate to cite all these sources for his birth, or just the ones that give the exact best date known (here, just the 1900 census)?
2. How do you keep your source lists manageable? For the family of the ancestor noted above, I have probably 30 different sources – including censuses, obituaries, family stories, pictures, birth/death/marriage certificates, etc. Is it appropriate to include every single one of these sources in my citations? The endnotes will be endless!
Ted’s answers was excellent and you have to remember that as genealogist the more documentation we have the stronger our case is in proving the relationships going backward in time. Many people have a couple of census reports and copy things from other trees on Ancestry.com and think they have a valid genealogy. I use Legacy and about the only thing that I wanted to mention was that I always scan my census originals or download them from Ancestry and attach them to the person(s) they go with because if you only have the transcribed information then it’s no longer the “original record” which is considered a secondary source to begin with.
I have a 3rd great grandfather who fought in the Civil War that has well over a hundred source citations, but I have others that I’m still looking trying to find anything to back up what little I have which is circumstantial at best. In the end, some people are really good a documenting and organizing their research and others, well its a hobby for them and they don’t seem to take any part of the process too seriously.
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Quicksheet Citing Online Historical Resources $8.95 First Revised Edition with updated sample citations and style changes. Elizabeth Mills’s QuickSheet provides a template for citing historical sources on the Internet. It also lays down rules to help you judge the reliability of these sources. Published in the form of a laminated folder, the QuickSheet contains a series of sample citations showing the correct way to identify online sources such as … |
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Evidence Explained:Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace 2nd Edition $48.54 Following its enthusiastic reception in 2007, we are pleased to announce a new edition of what is now the definitive guide to the citation and analysis of historical sources, a guide so thorough that it leaves nothing to chance, whether you want a podcast or a census record. The new second edition of Evidence Explained includes updates to numerous websites, new models for electronic sources such a… |
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