Evidence in primary (handwritten) records

Original records: acceptable genealogical evidence.

updated 20 Oct 2013

The most important concept in genealogy is proof. Without proof your information might be all about

someone else's ancestors.

Lots of bad guesses have been published as if they were facts.

Until 1874 ALL genealogical proof was handwritten, and you want to see the original records yourself.

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.  You can send e-mails to rsbeatty@gmail.com, but please be patient while waiting for a reply.

The CD is now in being prepared. Publication of an electronic 3rd edition is planned for 2016.

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

   Bible records;  (Did you know that Bible records can disagree?);

   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 deciphered and correlated with other evidence.

Bible records

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.  rsbeatty@gmail.com

THANKS in advance.

See the original records 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. Nothing printed or published is entirely reliable.

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.

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