Original records: acceptable genealogical evidence.
updated 10 Jun 2007

The most important concept in genealogy is proof. Without proof your information might be all about
someone else's ancestors.
Until 1874 ALL genealogical proof was handwritten (and you want to see the original records yourself).

Lots of bad guesses have been published as if they were facts. Nothing printed or published is entirely reliable.
Experts estimate that fully 1/2 of the genealogy on the web is WRONG.

THANK YOU for your contributions to The Rambo Family Tree. Publication of a 3rd edition is planned for 2016.

Photocopies or JPEGs are needed of "primary" (handwritten) records which prove family relationships such as:
Bible records;

In 1874 the first typewriters were sold by Eli Remington & Sons (known for rifles & guns)

church records;
wills;
some probate court records;
marriage, birth, and death records;
some deeds;
occasional civil court records;
annotated pictures;
and other similar records created at the time of the recorded event, all handwritten before 1874.

Photocopies of the original hand-written records are much more useful than transcriptions because transcriptions often contain errors, mis-interpretation of archaic handwriting, or omissions of margin notes or incidental information. Any single error or omission can have huge significance. Even cryptic margin notes can become conclusive proofs when eventually decyphered and correlated with other evidence.

Photocopies of Bible records are especially important since Bibles can be so easily lost, misplaced, burned, buried, or hidden.

PLEASE, Please, please DO send photocopies of any family Bible records that you have or have seen. An archive of copies of Rambo family Bible records is being created to be donated to an appropriate repository such as the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. My permanent address for such materials is:
Ron Beatty
Rambo Genealogy
P.O. Box 2142
Shawnee Mission, KS 66201.

"Secondary" records are often typewritten, printed, or published. Transcriptions are more acceptable for secondary records since the information itself is "second-hand" and the records are more widely distributed. Annotations can be invaluable.
Copies of "secondary" records are NEEDED such as:
biographies in county histories, newspapers, or family files;
newspaper notices of marriages, anniversaries, obituaries, etc;
memorials;
letters;
and other similar items recorded second-hand sometime after the event itself occurred.
Some lucky genealogists find local newspaper articles about silver or golden wedding anniversaries, or birthday celebrations, or family reunions.

Any "primary" and "secondary" source information which you send to me will be very much appreciated.
THANKS in advance.

You MUST examine the original documents yourself.

Seeing the original documents adds hugely to enjoyment of this addictive hobby. You may find that others have misread those records. One note described John Rambo as "an inteligent man" rather than the "indigent man" reported by an excellent historian. In another instance the wording "my wife Deborah During her life" was misread as "my wife Deborah Denny."
In 1914 the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania published abstracts of Philadelphia County probate cases including one for Magdalene Bauerin wherein her administrator, Peter Rambo, was called her son. NOWHERE in those probate papers is he described as her son, so even an august institution like the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania can publish a mistake.

ALWAYS mistrust anything you see in print, especially published genealogies and website offerings. Anything published contains errors and often contains speculation which is masqueraded as fact.

Always be skeptical of any printed or published material regardless of author.

Until you have seen proof in hand-written original documents (such as wills, deeds, court records, church records, family bibles, or the like), all you have is hearsay, one step removed from rumors and speculation.
There are known errors in the books published by Mary Emma Hamrick, Edna Robertson Vacher, and virtually every other genealogical author. The Rambo Family Tree is no exception, despite our best efforts to prove as much as possible. You must always verify your information with original source material.
If you pass information on to others without citing your sources and without verifying it first, you are guilty of promulgating RUMORS.
I am just as guilty as anyone else and this website undoubtedly contains many errors.
Since I enjoy genealogical research, my focus for the 3rd edition will be to find proofs of the earliest Rambo informations.

Bible records can disagree.

Not that long ago photocopiers did not exist and copies were made by hand. Bibles were often given to newlyweds and family information was copied from parents' Bibles into the newlyweds'. Errors were sometimes made. Children might be omitted, dates transposed, etc. Consequently it is vital to examine a Bible record closely to see if it looks like the original record from perhaps 1750 or if it is a "recent" copy made by a granddaughter in 1810. The first clue is the publication date of the Bible itself. Obviously any dates which pre-date the publication were copied from elsewhere. The second clue is the appearance of the handwritten entries. Original handwritten entries usually change as the writer ages and uses different inks and pens. Copies usually appear to be much more consistantly written in one hand by one pen with one "ink".
Bible records are subject to one "unusual" flaw. If the first child appeared "too early", the date of marriage might be incorrectly recorded. In this instance the court record, or even a newspaper announcement is probably more accurate.

Besides finding the "right" name in the "right" place in public records, you must also determine that the name belonged to the "right" individual.
For instance, Lawrence Rambo Jr. was not the son of Lawrence Rambo Sr. This Jr. was a nephew of Lawrence Rambo Sr.
Another example: Several extensive Rambo families moved into Knox County, Illinois around 1840 and multiplied rapidly. In the 1850 census George Rambo appears. It seems obvious that he must be related, but he wasn't. He moved there from Alsace-Lorraine before 1850, so his descendants are totally unrelated to our Rambos who lived in the same county.

My ancestor Deborah Gardiner Owen left a sampler dating to 1760, inscribed with a cryptic final lines: "When this you see, remember me, DG in the 12th YIO." Eventually a librarian at the State Library in Hartford Connecticut quessed immediately: "12th Year in Ohio" because the librarian herself had lived in Ohio for several years. This confirms that my ancestor Deborah Gardiner Owen died in 1801, in her 12th year in Ohio!

You are earnestly requested to help fix any errors you find by sending corrections citing original sources (or a lack thereof) via letter or e-mail. With your help, the next edition of The Rambo Family Tree can be more nearly perfect and correct. Thank you very, very much. A copy of the original handwritten source sent by mail is preferred. JPEG files are also fine, but I seldom receive attachments on the first try, so be prepared to send them a second time. Transcriptions save me a lot of typing time, so sending both is ideal. It is best to send transcriptions imbedded in an e-mail message (via Edit, Copy and Paste) although an ASCII (or "DOS text") attachment is also fine provided you've established a dialogue with me first.
If you are new to computers, send it any way you know how.

Click the "backarrow" on your browser or click here to return to the Rambo genealogy download page.

Pages of personal interest: Ron Beatty's home page (unavailable just now), the Rambo genealogy, the Argo Families Revisited by Wesley Argo, Eric's RPM coins, Janie's Santa Fe Guest Rentals in New Mexico, Partly Dave's Neighbourhood Garage in Vernon, BC., and now Eve's Garden Organic Bed and Breakfast, a wonderful, eclectic, artistic papercrete alternative living learning mecca in Marathon, Texas.
rumors.htm
email.htm
skepticalofprint.htm
seeoriginal.htm
advantagesoforiginal.htm
biblerecords.htm
biblerecordflaws.htm