Selected Topics


          Friday, April 8, 2011

Hatfields: How Do you Know When a Record Is Wrong?

The cover is shiny; the book looks so grand. How do you know if the data is well researched and dependable? Using the much-ballyhooed Hatfield family, trace back through printed works to find that virtually every statement made by derives from a single, unreliable source. Examine records, law, and custom; evaluate evidence to disprove what's in print.



          Saturday, April 9, 2011
It's Vitally Improtant: Beyond the Basics of Vital Records

Vital records substitutes, vital records on collateral and neighboring families.

Annotations: Answers in the Census



Invisible Ink: Reading What's Not There



Digging Deeper: Spading Into Intestate Files





          Sunday, April 10, 2011

Unlucky William Casteel: Confessions of a Hurried Genealogist

I stand confessed, for in my haste to go Straight-on-Back I neglected poor William Casteel. “Killed by bushwhackers” says the story. How do I find out? Jump outside the bounds of genealogy to seek more clearly. This is the tale of an Indiana farmer who homesteaded far too close to history and shows how to use history to find records of your ancestors instead of using records to suggest history.

---

GSCCA

Back to Ridge Roots 2011