The document discusses evaluating sources and evidence in genealogical research. It emphasizes conducting a thorough search across multiple source types to find as much direct and indirect evidence as possible about an individual. When sources conflict, the document provides guidance on analyzing source reliability to determine which information is most likely accurate. Key steps include evaluating source types, recording source details to allow verification, and considering all contextual factors like incentives for providing inaccurate information. The goal is to build a clear case by carefully analyzing each piece of evidence and correlating information across reliable sources.

1. GENEALOGICAL
PROOF
STANDARD
CREDIBILITY & RELIABILTY
IN GENEALOGY RESEARCH

4. When it comes to GPS, this means that you’ve considered as many sources
of potentially relevant information as possible within reason. You didn’t stop
with just two or three bits of information and say good enough. You kept
digging.
The very first step is to know what sources are available for the
time and place you’re researching. (local, state and federal)
There are dozens of possible sources to be located. Some are original
sources with primary information that offer direct evidence, and if you do
manage to find them, wonderful.
But if all you find are bits of indirect evidence, you need to look for every
source you can get your hands on: probate and court records, census
listings, newspaper articles, church records, local histories, etc.
Each one adds a piece to the puzzle.

5. LAWRENCE ALBERT KELLEY,SR.
b. 30 Apr 1904 Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA
d. 17 July 1978 Metairie, Louisiana, USA
Birth Records : Civil Birth Registration, Christening Record, Newspaper birth
announcement
United States Census for 1910, 1920, 1930 & 1940
Did I find him in city directories? Do I know the addresses of where he lived,
where he worked?
Did I find his marriage record? Civil and church record? Marriage announcement
in the newspaper?
Military Records (Did he serve? Is there a draft card for him?)
He is not an immigrant so there will be no immigration record. (or I would want
ship manifest and naturalization records).
Did I search the newspapers for any mention of him or his family?
Did I find his gravesite and cemetery record? (FindAGrave.Org)
Did I find his death certificate? Did I find him in the Social Security Death Index?
Did I find his obituary?

6. Did I search Library Catalogs? WorldCat.Org?
Did I consult historical and genealogical journals?
Did I contact local genealogy and historical associations where he lived?
Did he take a trip? Is there a passport or ship/plane manifest?
Did he have medical issues? Are there hospital records?
Are there any legal records? Probate? Will? Real Estate Transfer?
What was his education? Are there school records or a yearbook from his school?
Am I able to visit where he lived?
Did I search Google? Ancestry.Com, FamilySearch.Org, CyndisList.Com?
Did I search Facebook? Did I join Facebook Groups that may be able to help me?
Did I contact cousins on Facebook?
Did I contact relatives to see what they know?
Has someone already created a family tree that I can consult? (WITH SOURCES)

7. When you do locate a source, record where you
found it as completely and accurately as possible.
This not only lets other researchers validate your
information, but it makes it far easier for you to find
the source again if you need to take another look.
The source of the information will also help to
determine the accuracy of the information.
Demonstrates the extent of the search and the
quality of the sources.
Allows others to replicate the steps taken to reach
the conclusion. The inability to replicate the
research casts doubt on your conclusion.

8. WHO? Who conveyed the information
and who recorded the information?
WHAT? What is the source? What is the
title? If it does not have a title give the
source a description.
WHEN? When was it created, published
and when did the researcher access it?
WHERE? Where is the information
housed? Where did you access it from?
WHAT SHOULD BE INCLUDED IN A CITATION

9. WWW.EVIDENCEEXPLAINED.COM

13. You have to decide if your sources and information are
reliable and useful, and then you must build a case.
Careful analysis of each piece of information and
source is required to decide which is most likely to be
accurate.
Correlating sources means taking information from
two or more sources and combining them to generate
new knowledge.

14. SOURCE AND INFORMATION
Source : What you can hold in your hand
(a book, a document,
a file, a photograph, a quilt, jewelry, etc.)
Information : information is content from the source
(a date, a name, a place, a cause of death).
Usually provided by an informant, someone who had knowledge of the information provided.
Source : My great-great grandfather’s business card
Information : His name, what type of work that he
did and where he was located.

15. EVIDENCE
Evidence is the available facts or information indicating whether a belief or
proposition is true or valid.
Primary/Direct Evidence – Explicitly answers the question. It is recorded by someone
with first-hand knowledge of the event in writing, audio-recording, video-recording
or photography while their memory of the event is still accurate.
Secondary/Indirect Evidence – Incomplete information and needs other sources to
find the answer. For example, a family story that has been handed down or an
abstract/transcription.
Indeterminable Information – Information that comes from an unknown informant.
For example, in most census records, we do not know who provided the information
that was recorded.
Negative Evidence – When there is an absence of information that should have
existed because of certain factors. This does not mean that record does not exist; it
means that the record may not be in the location expected, was missed in the
indexing process, has not been located yet, was subject to a transcription error, or
any other possibilities.

16. TYPES OF SOURCES
ORIGINAL SOURCES : Contribute written, oral, or visual information
that was recorded at, or near the time of the event. (i.e. –
birth/marriage/death certificates, photographs, video or audio
recordings) These are the most reliable sources and or least likely to
contain errors.
DERIVATIVE SOURCES : Contribute information which was copied,
transcribed, abstracted, summarized, or repeated from information in
a previously existing source.(i.e. – transcripts, extracts, abstracts,
and indexes) These tend to omit information and are more error prone
than original sources due to interpretation and compilations.
AUTHORED WORKS : Include the writer’s opinions, observations and
conclusions based on the author’s examination of a variety of
sources. (compiled family histories, family work sheets and
biographies) The reliability of these works can be determined by
examining the sources.

17. EVALUATING CENSUS INFORMATION
Only the 1940 Census indicates who answered the
questions.
Especially early on neighbors could be asked for
information on a family living at a nearby farm who were
not home at the time.
An Italian Census taker could possibly be asking an Irish
family about their Jewish neighbors who spoke Yiddish.
For the information to be primary, it must be furnished by
someone with first hand knowledge or a participant in the
event.
In 1850, 1860, and 1870 there were three copies of the
census. “The one taken at the time, another copy for the
state and another for the local government.) The original
census taker was not necessarily the one who did the
other two copies and their could be errors in
transcription.

18. In trying to determine if this Dolores Baker in the 1910 Census is
my Great-Grandmother, I need to ask these questions:
Who is Steve Baker, who is listed as a boarder?
Where is her mother?
Is Dennis Cuquet her mother’s brother?
These questions led me to find out that I had the right Dolores
Baker and I connected her to her mother’s family.

19. Evaluating Birth, Marriage and
Death Certificates
Whose signatures are present?
Who witnessed the event?
Who gave the information?
How soon after the event was
the information recorded?
Where did the event occur and
where was it recorded?
How legible is the information?

20. EVEN THE IFORMATION ON TOMBSTONES ARE
NOT NECESSARILY SET IN STONE
The tombstone could have been erected by
descendants many years later.
The engraver could have made a mistake.
We do not know who gave the information to
the engraver or why they may have given the
information that they gave to him.
A birth record or death record will be more
reliable than a tombstone, however if there is
a discrepancy that will need to be explained.

21. Do Not Copy Someone Else’s Tree
Look at the Sources they use and
evaluate them.
You want to build your own family
tree with reliable sources that you
can evaluate.

22. When you have sources and information that contradicts one
another you need to examine the information and decide which is
correct?
Did someone lie about their age because they wanted to join the
military or get married at an age younger than what was allowed?
Did they want people to think they were younger or older than they
were? Why?
Did they change their name?
Why would they have changed their name?
Is there a reason to believe the information was recorded
improperly?

23. Example : My paternal grandmother’s death certificate has
her mother’s name as “Alise Fiest”.
This is secondary information given by my dad and there is
reason to believe that he did not review the document
since he did not sign it.
I want to answer the question : “What is the name of my
maternal grandmother’s mother?”
I would need to find my grandmother’s birth certificate and
her mother’s birth certificate to verify this information.

24. So what is her name?
Every other record we can find with her name has her surname at birth as
Faist. So, we can conclude that her surname before marriage was Faist and
not Fiest. Her married name was Carter in every record found.
However, there are discrepancies in her first name.
My father’s maternal grandmother’s name is recorded as thus :
Civil Birth Certificate : Elisa Augustine Faist
Cemetery Record : Elisa A. Carter
Death Record : Elisa Augustine Carter
Marriage : record it appears that Alesa is written over Elisa.
contract is signed Alesa Faist
Census : 1880 (Elisa) 1910 (Eliza) 1920 (Mrs. A.W. Carter)
Her signature on my grandmother’s marriage certificate is Mrs. Alesa Carter

25. The written conclusion should address the following :
1. Your hypothesis (My great-grandmother’s name was Elisa Augustine Faist).
2. Any alternate hypotheses that still exists for your research question and why you chose your
hypothesis ass more correction. (My great-grandmother also went by the name of Alesa
around the time of her marriage.)
3. Discussion of any conflicting evidence found and reasons that it is inferior, or discounted. (It
appears that my great-grandmother decided to change the spelling of her first name around
the time of her marriage since she started signing things with that name at that time. This is
particulary supported by a marriage document that had Alesa written over Elisa.)
4. Conclusion (My great-grandmother’s official name was Elisa Augustine Faist and her married
name was Carter. She began spelling her name Alesa around the time of her marriage.)

26. https://bcgcertification.org/ethics-standards/