Germany Research Tips and Strategies: Difference between revisions

Germany Research Tips and Strategies (view source)

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 *It may prove difficult to locate the record referenced by the index, especially if the collection is "index-only." Other digital, microfilmed, or published indexes may need to be used.<br>
-==== Using town genealogies (Ortssippenbücher/ Ortsfamilienbücher)<br> ====
+==== Using town genealogies (Ortssippenbücher/ Ortsfamilienbücher)<br>  ====
 Published town genealogies are convenient to use, but they are a derivative source and may contain inaccuracies:<br>
 *Incorrect data may have been incorporated from another published or unpublished source
 *The author worked with a limited number of original sources and thus arrived at incorrect conclusions
 *Original documents may have been difficult to read
 *Mistakes were made in translation or transcription.
 Use the published work with a critical eye. Whenever possible, it should be followed up with extensive research in the original sources, usually civil registration and church records.<br>
 '''Generally,''' town genealogies include everyone who showed up in the records, but there are always '''exceptions'''. Thus, if a person is not found in a published volume, check the original records anyway. Also study the preface and explanatory notes of the book.<br>
+==== The "Thomas Principle"<br> ====
+Be a "doubting Thomas" ! Believe only what you have seen yourself. Always ask where the data you have found came from. Look at the original document. Does it contain additional information? Do you agree with&nbsp; the abstract, transcription, and/or interpretation? If not, more research is needed. <br>
+*Evaluate each source as to completeness and reliability. For instance, a death record is probably fairly reliable in regard to the&nbsp; death date, but not as much in reference to the decedent's age or birth date.This ia true even if the age given is precise. The recorder may have looked up the wrong person's baptism record. <br>
+*Do not “Read too much in-between the lines”. [For instance, a cross in the margin means that knowledge of the individual’s death had come to someone who had access to the parish register. It does not necessarily mean that the person died as a small child.]
+*It’s better to check a record twice too many than once too few. Go back and review previous research in light of new insights and information.<br>
+==== Using a library catalog<br>  ====
+Statistically, there are bound to be inaccuracies in any library catalog or finding tool. It may not describe a record fully or accurately. For example, if births and deaths appear to be filmed completely, but marriages aren’t listed, check the films anyway. You may be lucky and find that the marriages are actually included as well.<br>
+*If there are several sets of records for the same time period, check them all and try to figure out the difference. The films may include originals and transcripts of various types, or Lutheran and Reformed records may be filmed together. Sometimes church records and contemporary civil records [especially around 1800] are filmed together, but not distinguished in the catalog entry.
+*Entries that have been edited recently may not show up in the Catalog. If you can no longer find a record that you know was previously there, ask a reference consultant to check the master catalog.
+*.
+<br>
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