Basic Rule of Recording History = Valid Documentation!
The "Beyond Family Lore" Series
Wayne's Rant
As a Ph.D. student at the University of Tennessee, I was required to take a collection of courses on how to conduct credible professional-quality research, including an outstanding class on “historiography“–researching and writing history. One thing you learn quickly in those kinds of classes is that “I heard it through the family grapevine” just won’t cut it! It may be an interesting “story” that’s worth sharing, but the events in the story “ain’t history” (‘scuse my vernacular in this case) if you don’t support it with valid documentation. And, yes, I said VALID documentation–documentation that provides the kind of support that proves the actuality of the story.
Three brothers came in here (White County, Tennessee) and they were from Holland.
For example, my dear godly and honest-as-the-day-is-long (as we say in Tennessee) mother always told me that my Haston ancestors came from Holland. Several times she told me about my father’s ancestors, by saying, “three brothers came in here from Holland.” That was an interesting story but it wasn’t history. Even if it had been true and all of that really happened, I had no way of knowing of knowing if it was historically accurate until many years later I began digging for the documentation. Bottom line: We have to find actual proof of the historicity of a story before we can claim it is history.
So, just because your beloved parent or aunt and uncle or grandparents told you a story about your family’s history doesn’t mean it’s true. And that doesn’t mean they were dishonest people. It simply means they were probably passing along what they heard, without knowing if it was true or not.
When I began researching and writing our Haston history, I quickly discovered that much of the passed-down Haston “history” is family folklore. And I love folklore stories; there’s nothing wrong with sharing them. But it is important that we share them as “stories” and not as “history” unless we can verify them with credible evidence. So, often I will qualify a story with a preface such as this, “John Doe said….” That’s a signal to alert the reader to know that it’s only a story until proven to be historically accurate.
As I’ve said many times, I was deeply disappointed to learn (by digging down to the documents and evaluating the credibility of the documents) that the “story” about our Daniel Haston being a Revolutionary War veteran was only a story, not a historical fact. I’ve laid all of that out in articles on this site, as well as in three chapters of The Story of the Daniel Haston Family. By the way, the book contains mostly history that is documented, but it also includes stories–some are known to just be (or may be) stories but they are presented as such.
Here's What Credible Family Historians and Genealogists Say
Without adequate documentation, [even] a well-researched family history or tree looks like fiction.
The value of your family history research relies in large part on the thoroughness and clarity of your documentation.
Documentation is the most important task that genealogists undertake. Without documentation, genealogical research results are nearly meaningless.
Family stories embellished and retold across the generations are particularly susceptible to elaboration as well as deception. Critical family history requires scrutiny of the lived events uncovered—some of which may be in sharp contrast to family myths passed down through generations.
If genealogists, whether hobbyist or professional, do not apply rigorous standards to our research then our genealogy turns into (at best) fun stories, regardless of whether they are true.
When I talk with those unfamiliar with genealogical research, they are often surprised by all that goes into what we do as professional genealogists. Rather than simply “looking up” family trees online, our work is characterized by the thorough, detailed, and careful examination of historical documents in relation to a specific research problem.
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