Keith Thomas wrote: 'The justification of all historical study must ultimately be that it enhances our self-consciousness, enables us to see ourselves in perspective, and helps us towards that greater freedom which comes from self-knowledge.'1
Thomas justified researching family history. But researching family history is a personal matter. And the activity is much more valuable than the result (cf V. H. Galbraith2).
Reference documents are secondary documents - in contrast to primary source materials - useful in studying family history. Timeline documents put the vital events of ancestors in linear perspective, so the events can be compared to a timeline of political and social history. Genealogical databases organise the vital events, a step towards processing data information.
Timeline documents are in Microsoft Word 2003 format (*.doc) or Adobe Acrobat v. 7.0 format (*.pdf). Genealogical database files are in GEDCOM 5.5 format (*.ged).
The timeline documents for parishes in northern Fyn are still working documents.
Research, reading the Kirkebøger [church records], Skifteprotokol [probate records], and Fæstebrev [copy-hold contracts], is continuing. Not all events in the timeline documents have been fully transcribed. The timeline documents will be updated as the research proceeds and transcriptions are finalised.
The timeline documents are BIG (1 - 4 MB), because they include images, from the Kirkebøger, of the manuscript recording the vital events.
The images are included to minimise transcription errors and to show 'the real stuff of history - the actual contemporary records of the period'.
Documents available for download today may include:
The timeline documents for German ancestors are compact, in contrast to the Danish ones, because they do not contain images of the original church records.
Documents available for download today may include :
The timeline documents do not contain any images.
Documents available for download likely include:
1. Keith Thomas, 'History and anthropology,' Past and present, Vol. 24, No. 1 (1963), pp. 3-24.
2. Vivian H. Galbraith, a professional historian, wrote: "The study of history is a personal matter, in which the activity is generally more valuable than the result. I see little value in the reading of endless popular narratives, however well written. The historical student should pass, almost at the beginning, to the real stuff of history - the actual contemporary records of the period he is studying."
genealogi.html © Bil Hansen 2009 Last modified: 2009/7/3 3.7 KB