Rendered before/after
I had an aunt that traced a lot of family history. When I read it I spotted several mistakes where she must have been just guessing at facts so I do have to kind of question the accuracy of things almost 400 years ago.
I've learned over the years that getting things correct is not too difficult after 1850 or 60 (this is when census reports listed everyone's household names and ages). Prior to that you have to do a lot of digging into pre 1850 census records and connect the dots through land transactions, locations, marriage records, family interviews, and handwritten records. Even after doing this for several years now I have to tweak the family tree when new documentation arises.
My father was born out of wedlock in 1941 here in NC, and back then it was a taboo subject to talk about. He grew up knowing who his father was but never had anything to do with him. After he passed away, I discovered that he has 5 living half siblings. I have since reconnected with two of them. Such a cool process. None of them had no idea about my father.
I had an aunt that traced a lot of family history. When I read it I spotted several mistakes where she must have been just guessing at facts so I do have to kind of question the accuracy of things almost 400 years ago.
I've learned over the years that getting things correct is not too difficult after 1850 or 60 (this is when census reports listed everyone's household names and ages... at least here in NC). Prior to that you have to do a lot of digging into pre 1850 census records and connect the dots through land transactions, locations, marriage records, family interviews, and handwritten records. Even after doing this for several years now I have to tweak the family tree when new documentation arises. My father was born out of wedlock in 1941 here in NC, and back then it was a taboo subject to talk about. He grew up knowing who his father was but never had anything to do with him. After he passed away, I discovered that he has 5 living half siblings. I have since reconnected with two of them. Such a cool process. None of them had no idea about my father.