Be wary of ‘unsourced’ material on Web

So is the Internet the best thing that ever happened to genealogy – or the worst? Neither. Computers and the World Wide Web certainly have changed research habits for most of us.

I subscribe to one paid database because it offers the opportunity to view census records from all over the country, most of them indexed by name.

That’s a wonderful thing when it comes to states I can’t get to easily. Yes, it’s possible to borrow census microfilm through Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But searching a large city, or not knowing the location, can slow us down.

I also belong to New England Historical Genealogical Society in order to use its databases online, particularly its quarterly, The Register, 1847-1995 – indexed.

An unimaginable amount of information is available on the Internet now, and it’s growing all the time. But it’s more important than ever to resist assuming that everything we read is true.

It can be great to find that someone has done a genealogical homepage that includes our ancestors – but all too often, these are “unsourced.” There’s no indication of where the information came from. And with the speed of the Internet, it’s easier than ever for one person or site to pick up on an error and repeat it as fact.

I very much like using the free LDS Web site at www.familysearch.org.

It used to be that the IGI, International Genealogical Index with records extracted from towns, was distinct from the Ancestral File information, which was submitted by individuals on their families. The IGI was always considered more accurate.

But I find that IGI listings now include information submitted by church members, so it’s best to scrutinize each individual entry to find out whether it was an extracted record or not (it says at the bottom).

If a listing submitted by a descendant gives a birth date for your ancestor as 1803 and the marriage date as 1805, there’s got to be an error somewhere.

I’m very fond of the 1880 census for the whole country, which is free on the LDS site, as are the Canadian and British censuses for 1881. But keep in mind that these are transcriptions, and sometimes a transcriber can misread the writing of the census taker.

Paid Web sites may provide actual images from the census microfilm, which is terrific. But if you’re looking up a name, you’re depending on the person doing the indexing to correctly interpret that name.

Still, there’s much to be said for having ancestral information available by computer. But something’s lost, as well.

New researchers need to be sure they don’t overlook what’s available in libraries and archives. I never walk through the stacks in the Bangor Room at Bangor Public Library without coming across something I never knew about – even though it’s been there for quite awhile.

Then there’s the time I walked past a table at the Maine State Library and spied a book left open to a page of information about the Holbrook family – my Holbrooks. That’s serendipity.

Or the first time I went looking for my Isaac Bennett in the vital records of Gloucester, Mass., at Bangor Public Library. I found him. I walked out with four more generations of Bennetts, not to mention a raft of Haskell, Lane, Riggs, Millett and Wharff lines back to the 1600s. All from three volumes. Faster than the Internet.

And, admit it, there’s nothing like thumbing through a book.

Arthur Carter will speak on DNA testing and genealogy at the meeting of the Washington County Genealogical Society at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at the home of Valdine Atwood, 2 Free St., in Machias – across from the Burnham Tavern.

Membership is open to anyone who wants to learn more about family genealogy and history, especially in Washington County and neighboring Charlotte County, New Brunswick. For information, contact Frances Raye at 853-6630, Valdine Atwood at 255-4432, or Connie Ferguson at 726-9690.

The Priscilla Mullins Alden Colony of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Maine will meet noon-2 p.m. Saturday, April 15, at the East Bangor Community Church on Pushaw Road.

The speaker will be Alice Beal, an active member of the Milbridge Historical Society who writes a weekly column on genealogy for the Down East Coastal Press. All Mayflower Society members are welcome to attend and bring a guest. Lunch will be served at a cost of $8. For directions or information, call Martha at 947-5540.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.