Online research today is immensely rewarding. Major genealogical data sites and software perform automatic searches for us and suggest documents bearing the names of people we are pursuing. However, every document we collect presents an identity issue we have to resolve before we can validly use it to build our family tree. This presentation demonstrates why, using three men named Samuel Witter whose descendants have all claimed for him the same War of 1812 service. As Mills separates the three Samuels, she explores the standards that govern our development of evidence, the Congressional laws that must guide our decisions, and the strategies needed to differentiate between men and correctly assign military service.
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This is one of the very best presentations I have ever seen on genealogy. I thought I was doing reasonably exhaustive research, but I can see I need to dig deeper and wider, and definitely starting writing research reports (for my own benefit, and others.) I have a lot of what I call Doppelgangers–same name folks during a given timeframe. I do excel sheets to map out their lives to come to same determinations. But I have never tried to gather an entire unit’s records. Thanks everyone for this webinar, esp., thank you Ms. Mills.
It can be frustrating. In my ancestors there are many people who have the same names over generations. So I always have to look at the birth dates of them. My grandfather and his cousin had the same name, Wasyl Kulij, and they were about the same age, and came to Canada about the same time. Grandfather stayed in Canada, and his cousin moved to the USA. I found a passenger list to Canada with Wasyl Kulij, but that was not my grandfather as the birth date was not his, but his cousin’s.
My G5, Samuel Hall, 1787-1856 served with Samuel Witter – I had no idea until I watched this webinar. Just last week I was researching his military unit but now I found so much more on Historic Pathways. Thank you ESM- you are truly the best, I have learned so much from you!
It is always a pleasure and educational to listen to Elizabeth Shown Mill’s webinars. The Q&A are invaluable.
Another reason a Legacy Family Tree Webinars subscription is the best investment in genealogical education.
I always learn so much from Elizabeth Mills.
The step-by-step case study is so beneficial to understanding a process. Elizabeth Shown Mills always delivers an educated, informative and entertaining presentation. Thank you for the opportunity to hear her series.
Excellent presentation as always. I appreciate the way Elizabeth gives insight into the thought process of why she does something. Her case studies with specific details are extremely helpful for learning and remembering methodologies.