Yesterday when researching the
descendants of the Wabash Valley Tapscotts, I found listings for the same two
people in two different cemeteries in both Find-A-Grave and the Illinois
Genealogy Trails website for the county involved. In all likelihood there is an
error.
I am not going to give the name
of the county since people maintaining county genealogy websites are volunteers
and their time is limited. But like most, though, not all cemetery listings
maintained by county genealogical volunteers, the sources of the data were not
provided. Thus, there was no way to determine reliability or where the error might be. There was no indication of whether the data source was death records, burial
records, obituaries, marker transcriptions, anecdotes, newspaper articles,
family trees, guesswork or (most likely) some combination of all of these. To genealogical society personnel, please, PLEASE, PLEASE provide sources for published cemetery
data.
At this point I would like to
congratulate the Clark County Genealogy Library in Marshall Illinois. They have
a collection of cemetery listings for the county in booklets and these listings
are, as far as I can tell, 100 percent verbatim transcriptions of cemetery
markers. They may not be correct, but at least we know the source and can
evaluate the reliability accordingly. If only others publishing cemetery
listings would do the same.
As far as Find-A-Grave (FAG) is
concerned, the site is a valuable tool. I use it all the time. But the posted data
are, to be blunt, untrustworthy. When I first started doing family history
research I assumed that the data posted by FAG on the internet came from
cemetery marker inscriptions—Wrong, WRONG, WRONG!
I often find serious errors, massive blunders posted on FAG. In some cases the
data are at complete odds with the actual marker. It appears that
anyone can submit “Virtual Cemetery” or “Memorial” data to FAG without
providing reliable sources. FAG data are useful only if a photo of the grave
marker is provided so that one can transcribe it themselves. Presumably, the
photo is attached to the correct cemetery, though in one case I found it was
not. I also tend to use attached obituaries if (and only if) the complete
newspaper source is given. I never, NEVER, NEVER use FAG data except from
photographed markers or well-referenced obituaries, and even then with a "grain of salt."
Enough of the polemics. And now
back to researching the Tapscotts.
