To genealogical brothers & sisters who insist on documentation:

Amen.

The National Genealogical Society, and other genealogical
societies have spent a great amount of effort to make the
historians accept our work.  They drummed "primary
sources", "documentation",  "evaluating evidence," etc. at
every opportunity until they had succeeded to a very large
extent until the Internet came along!

I cannot blame the "new" genealogists.  I confess that I
did the same thing when I started.  Didn't everybody?
Documentation?  Never heard of it.  That was fifty years
ago.  At that time, If you said you were a genealogist,
people thought you collected rocks or brought new babies
into the world.  So I can't bring myself to scorn those who
are accepting any data they see.  I just trust that they
are bright enough (and so far as I am concerned if they
know how to use the Internet they are brilliant!) they are
going to catch on very soon if we old-timers just consistently
set a good example.

I don't think it is going to help at all to criticize the errors
in the LDS files.  The volume of the material they have
accepted and reproduced is just too great for them to be
able to alter it all.  LDS has provided a VERY great service
to us and I am most appreciative.  We are going to have
to sort out the good from the bad ourselves--and it
looks like most are doing just that.   The discourse here
should alert new users to the dangers of accepting every-
thing they see.  Looks like things are back to where they
were when I came in fifty years ago!   However, because of
the amount of help now available in books, workshops,
courses in adult education, etc. I am sure it won't take the
same amount of time to turn the course.  May I suggest
that we encourage every new genealogist to attend at least
one of the national conferences it they can--to help them
in their research and in discrimination between the proven
and unproven.

I just got a flyer in the mail today from the FEDERATION
OF GENEALOGICAL SOCIETIES of a conference being
hosted by Scott County, IA Genealogical Society and the
Blackhawk Genealogical Society of Rock Island and Mercer
Counties, Illinois.  It is a four-day conference, to be given
in Davenport, IA, September 12-15, 2001.   You can get
more information about it at http://www.fgs.org.  The lectures
sound most interesting.

If you live closer to the west coast, the National Genea-
logical Society is having its 2001 NGS Conference in the
States in Portland, Oregon this year from 16-19 May. Host
society is Genealogical Forum of Oregon, Inc.  More
information at: http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.  I  was at
a former conference out there, and I can guarantee they
know how to show you a good time as well as teach
you all about genealogy.  Even if you have to travel some
distance, I think you will be glad you went.

Netti Schreiner-Yantis
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