Oklahoma
Genealogical Society
What
Is Proof?
From Oklahoma Genealogical Society
Quarterly Vol. 9, No. 3, September 1964
Transcribed to Electronic form by Jo White
Brief notes for program presented to OGS
by Marie Garland, May 4, 1964, OGS Member
Establishing fact by evidence is proof. Lawyers and courts wrangle daily attempting
to ascertain proof beyond the shadow of a doubt.
There is not a
genealogical tree in existence whose limbs do not contain a few branches which,
when certain twigs first appeared, caused the lifting of eyebrows. Old records are full of publicly
acknowledged natural children. A genealogist’s
most needed proofs are those of birth, marriage, death, and parentage, proving
a person was in fact the child of a certain union.
Births are
generally found by checking
- Birth certificates
- Bible records
- Baptismal records
- Obituary notices
- Tombstone inscriptions
- Census records
- Lodge records
- Marriage records
- Doctors and midwives records
- Ministers diaries
- Printed genealogical material.
Having all
these sources, it is usually possible to ascertain a birth. Immediately let me caution you, nearly all
of the sources may contain errors in either dates or spelling or both. Being the first born of my parents, I was
deflated to note my mother wrote my birth as February 14. It was the 15th, the day the
Maine was wrecked. Our milch cow had
little Valentine the day before on the 14th. I wouldn’t change our bible for
anything! I like it wrong.
Let it suffice
to know when a person has gone to the trouble to record a statistic, he or she
generally did so to the best of his ability and knowledge. One of our family Bibles had pages so faint
it was difficult to copy. I had the
sheets photostated (sic) and then I took the Bible to an engineer in O.U. and
asked him to retrace lightly inking in the fading words and figures. Submitting Bible records, whether certified,
photostated or xeroxed, is not considered adequate proof without a copy of the
page from the Bible showing its date and publisher. This may be at the front of the Bible or between the Old and New
Testament. It is often called the
“Title” page.
Be prepared
for out and out fraud. Throughout the
United States not many years ago “JENNINGSes” suddenly became family tree
conscious because of the Jennings millions.
The fortune escheated to the British Crown. Some of the printed genealogical material I have examined on this
family leads me strongly to suspect connivance and downright dishonesty.
Errors creep
into census reports. Place 1850 and
1860 censuses side by side on a family, and for some reason persons are often
not ten years older in 1860.
Marriage
records are often much more difficult to secure because the laws governing them
varied. These records may be found in
- Court houses
- Church records
- Bible records
- Ministers diaries
- Printed histories
Because
marriage proof is often harder to find, collateral evidence is acceptable. An example: deed by a husband and wife to
property for her named father.
Secondary
evidence is also accepted for marriages.
Examples: old letters relating to contemporary events, and depositions. Old depositions are considered good as the
makers in those days were careful as to what they said under oath.
Always keep in
mind errors of commission and omission.
In 1959 in Maury County, Tenn. a local genealogist, unsolicited, brought
to my hotel one morning all the marriages she had copied on KINGs from the
bonds located in the basement – and one was mine! Three year later this book (Maury County Marriages Between
1807-1837) was compiled. Imagine my
surprise to find my KING marriage of 1822 missing. I wrote to the Clerk and in due time I received a certified
copy. I don’t know how mine was
overlooked. Were there others overlooked? This is not to the compilers. I understand they are working on the year
1837 forward and I’ll purchase it as soon as my book fund permits.
One of the
most vexing problems is proving a certain person was the child of a particular
union. In copying census records of
1850 on, if the head of a household shows a valuation after his or her name,
this Indicates property taxed and of record.
Disposition of this property, real and/or personal, must be accounted
for either by will, deed, or estate settlement. Detailed relationships are often set out. But again that stumbling block “my
children," mentioned but not named may send you researching elsewhere.
Orphan Courts
give guardians appointed, bondsmen, and name the parent (or parents) of the
minor child.
Of course,
obituaries usually give the correct date of the week and one must complete the
exact time from the paper – weekly or daily.
Sometimes friends and acquaintances supply misinformation
unwittingly. I was with my father at
his death and when I secured a copy of his death certificate from the Vital
Statistics Department of this state, I was shocked to find my brother had
supplied wrong information. He just
didn’t know. But that written error is
a matter of record for all time to come.
May I suggest
when visiting old cemeteries you take along besides your chalk, hard backed
notebooks and pencil, a sharp pointed stick and a small spade. I discovered two almost completely covered
tombstones from a small exposed tip.
Every person
working on his family history should have a copy of Is That Lineage
Right? Anyone working in North
Carolina should read North Carolina Genealogical Reference. It gives material available in every county,
and cost of same.
The Indian
Archives of the Oklahoma Historical Society contain a tremendous amount of
indexed data but it is not all indexed.
Chickasaw marriages between Indians and white persons may be found in
these records. Proofs of heirship are
governed by Arkansas, not Oklahoma law.
I have with me
a copy of a book which I referred to as a minister’s diary, A Presbyterian
Missionary to the North Alabama and Mississippi Presbytery. Integration was a matter of course. Indians, Blacks and Whites all attended the
same services.
As all of you
probably knew when you came in this evening, PROOF I S EVIDENCE OF FACT SECURED
BY HARD DIGGING.
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