Can I use the descendents listed in FAG record as a source?

Question

I may have messed up.  When researching family records through Find-A-Grave, if, for example, a son was listed in the second part of the record, I went ahead and created a profile on Wikitree for him.  But that then means that both he and the parent are pointing to the same FAG record.  Is that a no-no?  Because they have popped up on my suggestions report, and I want to clean all the records up. TIA

Comments

Looking at the profile cited in your question and going to the FAG cited for the son, I see text in description area:

Born in Fischach
Father: Baruch 
Mother: Vogele (Fanny)

I assume this is your basis for father Baruch b. abt 1720 profile. In the absence of better sources found, I would edit the son's FAG source on Baruch page to make a note similar to this:  FAG cite... (Baruch mentioned as father on Find A Grave memorial for son).  But since that may not work for the wikitree suggestions reports, you maybe could put that info and note in the description section of his profile, rather than sources.  "Baruch is mentioned on FAG memorial page for son, at: ... (add cite)."  Then I would do research to see if I could find another mention of father's name in any other records for father or son.  

Answer 1

It would be wonderful to live in a world where there was one set of sources one could trust totally and everything else could be disregarded as garbage.  Unfortunately, there may be some useful clue in even the strangest myth, and even the most primary of sources sometimes have errors.  So part of sourcing is knowing which sources are more trustworthy than others.

Find-A-Grave falls into that category.  If it covers someone who died in 1900, identifies the cemetery and shows the grave stone, it's got good crfedibility.  Take way the grave stone and it has less.  Take away the identification of cemetery and you have to totally trust the person who created the profile.  If it's 200 years earlier, it's even less reliable.  And if it's the Find-a-Grave entry for Julius Caesar and it says he was born in Brooklyn New York in the year 150, take a pass!  So you have to use some logic.

WikiTree really has a higher bar for creating profiles than for adding narrative. If all you have is a Find-a-Grave entry for someone who died in Germany in 1700, that's not a strong enough source to justify creating a new profile.  Because once it's created, we don't delete profiles.  

But if the profile is already there, and the Find-a-Grave entry adds information, go ahead and add it--but make sure you use a good citation for the Find-a-Grave profile so others can see where it came from.  That may be just the clue someone needs to find a really strong source.

And if Find-a-Grave has a children who don't have profiles but you're adding to the profile of the parents -- go ahead and add the Find-a-Grave information for the children in a separate section called ===Children===.  If that turns out to be wrong, it's easy to fix -- much easier than fixing profiles created in error.

Answer 2

You will need to find the son’s FaG source. As you have his dates it should be easy to find that and other sources on familysearch.org

Answer 3

It is generally not good to use Find-A Grave as a source unless there is a photo of the grave marker, but in order to avoid getting a suggestion when you use another persons FAG as a source, you can use the template for FAG like this: {{FindAGrave|120592693|sameas=no}}

Comments

I was going to say if you use the father's FAG record as a source, you can always dismiss the Suggestion, but this is even better!

Answer 4

If the grave  image shows the names of both father and son, then use that, although dates  can be wrong sometimes. If both are mentioned in the same burial record  ( ie outside FIndAGrave  )then quote the entry and cite it as a source so others can find it.

If it is just  some text listing names on a Findagrave page without any sources - then it is not a source.. It would be necessary to find real sources for the profiles.

Answer 5

Father's FAG record in the profile needs the sameas=no, as stated, since the FAG is for the son, not the father.  You don't have any dates in the FAG for his parents, just their names, but it looks like you found a source for the son that mentions the parents, so that is a good source to include, also, which helps to prove that the info on the FAG is correct.

I have updated the father's profile with the full Find a Grave citation, including the FAG template, so you can see the formatting.  The same source can be copied to his son, but change the sameas to Yes, since it is for that person in the profile.

Answer 6

FAG is not a primary source.  Sometimes tombstones have mistakes because the mason or family made a mistake in the information provided; the family did not erect a stone immediately; the cemetery closed and the body was re-interred.and then the burial date changed. The person providing the information for the tombstone is going on hearsay..  Use FAG as a most likely senario but try and get information from births, deaths and marriages. Also military records and validate these with newspaper clippings. Using FAG as a source is like using a family tree on Ancestry.  One mistake is reproduced numerous times and then everyone believes the mistake.

Answer 7

Everything is a source. Even your elderly dementia suffering aunts utterings or the words family knowledge. It a matter of how much credence you give to the information  Don't fall into the trap of the "FAG" is rubbish brigade  Consider all information as clues and explain your reasoning. It's amazing how many people dismiss certain sources then are quite happy to take a book written a few hundred years ago as indisputable evidence. Allow scepticism to rule your life !

Comments

I agree. Everything is evidence. The genealogist needs to evaluate the evidence, compare it to other evidence, and form a genealogical conclusion.

From Eugene Aubrey Stratton's classic, Applied Genealogy (Ancestry, Inc., 1988), page 107 (emphasis added):

"Evidence: Anything supporting a genealogical relationship. The most common type of evidence is something in writing, but it can be verbal as well. A tombstone inscription is evidence. Inclusion of a parent-child relationship in a family history is evidence. A grandfather's verbal account of who his parents were is evidence. Evidence is not necessarily true, and the weighing or evaluation of evidence is an attempt to reach the truth, whatever it might be."

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True! One of my GG Grandfathers' obits from July 1911 says he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. The cemetery website lists the location of his first (and only) burial THERE but he hasn't been there since Oct. 1911! He's not the Christian Diedrich Rodick Sr. nor any of the several Christian Diedrich Rodicks currently buried there. I was so confused! MYSTERY SOLVED ONLY BY PHONE. Greenwood Cemetery told me he was reinterred at Metairie Cemetery, and gave me the exact date (I'm guessing just after his family tomb was built since he was the patriarch of his branch and the first one buried in that tomb. I don't have any proof that they were building a tomb but it seems logical.) Greenwood gave me his move date listed only on THEIR index card over the phone, which I've used as his reinterment date since Metairie Cemetery It's walking distance to Greenwood. Metairie Cemetery's records are missing. Greenwood's explanation over the phone is the only source I have, so I listed it on FaG. But because it's still TRUE that he was buried at Greenwood in July 1911 they list ONLY THEIR Cemetery info on their website. The FaG record I created shows his FINAL testing place with a note about the original burial and move date.

Answer 8

I have learned the hard way that the "families" listed on many FAG webpages are as accurate as family trees on Ancestry.com.

Use the data to point you in a direction for adding kinfolk but definitely find a different source-census or birth certificate.

Unless there is a photo of the tombstone with family names and dates I vote NO.

:-(

Answer 9

I list them on the profile for the person who has the F.A,G. reference but I do not generally create a profile unless I have also found them in something like a census record and the data agrees.  

I think of the memorials in F. A. G. like research notes to be followed up and verified.  

They are evidence but not necessarily a verified source.  

Having said that, official records can be wrong.  I knew my Grandfather and his twin sister.  His name was Joe hers was Anne Marie.  In their official birth record (info given by the midwife) everything but the date and the last name is wrong.  He is listed as Josephine and she is listed as Marc Anthony.  My Grandfather found this out when he went to get a copy of the birth certificate in his 70s.   He convinced to clerk to insert an amendment with the correct names.

Answer 10

Sometimes gravestones have inscription mistakes.  Sometimes marriage records have mistakes (my grandmother's maiden name is wrong on my mother's).  Sometimes death certificates have mistakes (my father and brother with two different social security numbers are given the same birth date).  Humans are fallible.  All sources are fallible because they are created by fallible humans.  A genealogist (or historian) looks at a variety of sources of information and weighs the likely credibility given the pattern of the whole when put together.