It is not uncommon to hear genealogists talking about finding truth or proving their family history. But are we setting ourselves up for failure? What is truth, after all? And what is proof? Are either attainable?
I do not want to sound pessimistic, but how we think about family history determines how we approach it and the results that we achieve. I believe that it is better to set achievable goals and reach them, than to set unattainable goals and end up frustrated by our failures. Or even worse, fooled into thinking that we have achieved them when we have not.
We cannot prove the past
The reality is that there is no absolute truth in studying history and we cannot definitively prove anything about our family’s past. History is not the past. History is our knowledge about the past and knowledge is based on the information that we access, our experiences and our education. Unlike Bill and Ted, we cannot time travel to observe what happened in the past. And even if we could, our experiences and our interpretation of events would differ from person to person. History is not objective. It is an interpretation of the past. This means that different people interpret the past differently and find different meanings in events that happened.
The genealogist’s knowledge of the past is based on sources that document aspects of the past. Those sources vary considerably, depending on when they were made, by whom and for what purpose. Sources do not record everything that happened and not all sources survive. This means family history is based on just a fraction of the past and of the sources that were created.
Use of original sources
One popular approach to addressing these issues is to prioritise the use of original sources over derivative sources. It is true that original sources tend to be created closer to the time of the event. So perhaps they are more likely to be an official record of an event. It is also true that derivative sources are inherently flawed. The process of deriving one source from another often leads to errors or deliberate changes, and introduces the interpretation of another individual. These factors suggest that original sources are more reliable than derivative sources.
However, it is unwise to fall into the trap of assuming that they provide ‘truth’ or prove any of the details of the event. All sources need to be analysed and evidence needs to be gathered from multiple sources. An original source, on its own, does not contain truth, nor does it provide proof.
Strive for accuracy
Rather than striving for truth or proof, I aim to make my family history as accurate as possible, with reasonable and defensible conclusions. This can be achieved by conducting a reasonably exhaustive search and a thorough, objective analysis, followed by systematic and comprehensive documentation.
Reasonableness is a term often used in law and it is extremely useful in family history research. A reasonable conclusion means that, given the circumstances and the evidence available, would other experienced genealogists reach the same conclusions as we have reached in our family history? Asking ourselves this question as we document our research is a good way to test the quality of our work.
Reasonable conclusions can only be reached by conducting a reasonably exhaustive search. A search is reasonably exhaustive if we have examined all the sources that another experienced genealogist would expect to have been searched in that circumstance. Defensible is another very useful concept and is closely related to reasonableness. Defensible means that if other experienced genealogists tested your conclusions using the same or different sources, they would reach the same conclusions.
So, it is not truth or proof that we should strive for, but satisfaction that we have done enough to reach the most accurate conclusions possible and that we remain open to new evidence that may alter our conclusions.
More information
For more of my articles about research methods for family history, go to the Research Methods page.
For more of my articles about analysing sources, go to the Analyse page.
The Board for the Certification of Genealogists provides information about genealogy standards and the concepts of a reasonably exhaustive search and reasonable and defensible conclusions.
Post last updated 5 June 2024