A date of birth on a genealogy chart might appear to be accurate, but it doesn’t reveal the origin of the information. Was it found on a birth certificate, passed down by a living relative, recorded at a graveyard, or copied from another family tree on the internet? Adding a source next to each piece of data can transform a list of dates and names into verifiable research that is easy to revisit at a later date.
A good source citation provides answers to the following questions. What kind of record is it? Who does it pertain to? What is the date and location? Where is the record housed? What collection or archive is it part of? How did I see the record? If it’s a digital record, it needs to be specific enough that the actual page or image can be found without relying solely on the search result or index entry. If it’s an actual physical record, include who owns it and where the digital copy lives.
Record the source next to the specific fact it applies to. A marriage record might provide a marriage date, address, occupation, parents’ names and/or witnesses, but it may not necessarily indicate a birth date written long after the marriage took place. One record might support multiple facts with varying degrees of certainty. Include a note if there is anything relevant to a particular fact, such as if a birth date was provided by the informant on a death record, the record was hand-transcribed, or the record was written much later than the date in question.
It’s easy for beginners to simply download an image and assume they’ll know what it means at a later time. However, months later, you might have a folder full of images labeled “record,” “scan,” or “family document” with no further identification as to which family branch they belong to or even which archive they come from. Make sure that you name files using the same system and always include the individual, event, year, and type of record. It’s also helpful to add your source citations to your family tree software, research log, or notes rather than just leaving them in the filenames.
Take one existing relationship in your family tree and practice. Let’s say it’s a mother-daughter connection. Look at every single fact associated with that relationship. Did you find a birth record? A census record? A family letter? A combination of records? Make a source note for each one and identify what that source actually supports. If there’s a fact without a source, do not look for a source to support that fact. Simply mark that fact as unsupported.
Indexes and transcriptions must be treated with caution. They can assist you in finding records, but misspellings, incorrect dates, and omissions can occur. It’s still worth noting the index entry that brought you to the record, but if you’re able to view the original, record that as the primary source. Indexes can leave out information such as maiden names, witnesses, occupations, handwritten notes, or geographical data that the original record contains.
Don’t worry about the details when it comes to citing sources initially. You just need enough information to answer the following question: Can you or another genealogist locate this document, and do you understand why you used it? Look back over a few of the sources in your tree and attempt to find those records again. If you need to dig through random folders to find a record, or you have no idea how to access a specific website or database, your source citations need some work.