do you want to prove a relationship in genealogy but lack direct evidence
you can still come up with an acceptable reasonable conclusion
in today's episode of the ancestral findings podcast I'll show you how
sometimes the direct proof we need just isn't there in genealogy records are missing
or non-existent the records we do find have inaccuracies or missing information in them
we find records that have conflicting information it can be frustrating when we can't directly prove
the relationships we need to prove for our research however just because we can't make
a direct connection between two people or between a person and an event doesn't mean that we can't
make a reasonable assumption about it these reasonable assumptions are called reasonable
conclusions in genealogy and provided you make them in the correct manner they are acceptable
for use in articles in scholarly and recreational genealogical journals and books the board of
certification of genealogists even accepts well done reasonable conclusions as a legitimate means
of conducting genealogy research in fact part of their certification course for professional
genealogists involves doing a piece of research that relies solely on making a reasonable
conclusion from the available evidence what is a reasonable conclusion a reasonable conclusion is
one that is made based on analyzing a variety of data and record sources and using these to come
to the most likely scenario based on the evidence provided you won't be using just one source when
you make a reasonable conclusion you will be using multiple sources of information you have
to if you use just one piece of information it will only tell you what is on that record and the
information may be inconclusive you need more than that to come to a reasonable conclusion examining
and comparing different sources of information will give you a bigger picture of what is going on
with your ancestors you may find some conflicting information you may never find anything that
directly points to one person as being connected to the other the important thing is to compare the
evidence and decide where it seems to be leading you you also have to consider the reliability
of the various pieces of information you are examining only once you put everything together
and decide how accurate it is and what it seems to be telling you can you come up with
a reasonable conclusion the professional genealogists would accept how do you put
together different information sources to reach a reasonable conclusion well first you must consider
the reliability of the information you're examining is it a primary source a secondary
source an original or derivative document and does it provide direct or indirect evidence of
the event or relationship you are looking to prove while primary and original sources that
provide direct evidence are usually considered the most reliable sources this is not always
the case take into consideration who provided the information was it a minister who married
a couple on a record made at the time of their marriage or was it written down in the family
Bible years after the fact maybe by a child or grandchild of the married couple you are
studying if it was written down by someone who wasn't there it can be subject to error human
memory is fallible and even if the grandparents told the grandchildren when and where they were
married that information may have been forgotten or corrupted in their memory by the time they get
around to writing it down in the family Bible or some other family record the same thing goes
for death certificates while the date of death is pretty reliable because it was recorded by
the attending doctor or other person present at the time a person died other information on the
certificate may not be as reliable for example the descendants birth date and place and the
names of their parents may not be correct as his information is provided by someone who was likely
not present at their birth unless the descendent was a child and may or may not have known the
descendents parents take a look at the name of the informant on the death certificate and try
to determine their relationship to the descendent are they related closely distantly or not at all
does the information they provided conflict with other information you have if so look
at the origins of your other information does your additional information have more reliable
sources if so you may want to put more weight on those sources regarding the birth date and
the names of the parents then the information provided on the death certificate comparing
information like this and examining its origin and reliability is key to establishing a reasonable
conclusion in geneology geneology is not an exact science by its very nature it never
can be one hundred percent certain on anything except in a very few rare cases of DNA analysis
of close relatives however using our reasoning skills analytical skills and a wide variety of
sources to compare we can come up with the most reasonable conclusion possible in our research
and be strongly certain that we are correct always examine many different record sources in your own
genealogical research and you will have a sound family history to give to future generations
are you starting your canadian genealogy search and aren't sure where to find the
good record sources in the next episode of the ancestral findings podcast I'll show you
the top Canadian research sites online to learn more about genealogy and sign up for our weekly
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