Alice Childs, assistant director of the BYU Center for Family History and Genealogy, shared methods to determine correct information from historical documents during her Education Week class on Friday, Aug. 23.
Childs' class, titled “Analyzing Historical Records to Form Correct Conclusions,” was meant to help amateur genealogists better recognize and discover errors in historical records. The class involved a mix of lecture and audience participation. Childs shared quotes from leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and taught that genealogy is the Lord’s work.
“God blesses our bodies, including our brains” when we pray for help to do his work, Childs said.
Though most historical records, including birth and death certificates, cemetery records, newspaper clippings and military documents were not created to be used in genealogy work, they are still useful records in finding and documenting family members, Childs said. In fact, all documents useful for genealogy work were provided by the Lord, she said.
“These records were often created for different purposes and we get to benefit from that when doing genealogy,” Childs said.
Childs gave three evidence analysis questions that genealogists can use when determining a source's historical accuracy. The questions she discussed are as follows:
- When and how was the source created? If the source was created a long time ago, it might be less accurate.
- Who provided the information for the source?
- Do the facts in the source directly or indirectly answer the research question?
In addition to posing these questions, Childs said those doing family history research should consider what their research questions or the end goal of their research is. Examples include setting out to find an ancestor’s birthdate, gravesite or parents.
When information isn’t available in one document, Childs said genealogists should look for other documents that can confirm, disprove or add to current historical records. This method is called correlating evidence, Childs said.
“We don’t ever want to base our conclusions on just one document because you can see there are always room for errors,” Childs said, demonstrating the importance of correlating information using several historical documents.
Childs walked the audience through her research process and closed out each document by asking the audience quiz questions to test them.
Other factors genealogists should consider when determining a document's accuracy is how far removed the document is from the information, Childs said. For example, a historical document detailing the life of someone born 100 years prior is more likely to contain compiled, second-hand information rather than first-hand documents. Therefore, a journal entry or birth certificate would be more useful in research, Childs said.
“We need to think about who provided the information and who they are and why they might have said it,” Childs said.
At the close of her remarks, Childs referenced a quote from Elder Dale G. Renlund’s 2016 RootsTech address.
"As you become involved in temple and family history work, 'You will find not only protection from the temptation and ills of the world, but you will also find personal power — power to change, power to repent, power to learn, power to be sanctified and power to turn the hearts of your family members to each other and heal that which needs healing,'" Childs said, quoting Elder Renlund.
Genealogy is the Lord’s work and He will help those doing His work to achieve it, Childs testified.
“I know this work blesses our ancestors and blesses us,” she said.