from Deborah in AZ.:

"Hello, Mr. Drake.  .... So then, how can I know when I have sufficient to prove my answer about his kinship????. Thank you...." 

Hi, Deb.  Though it does not seem so, this is a complicated and difficult question, and the answers are significant to every one of us who are sincere researchers.  Further, there is NO answer that sums up ALL the problems you may encounter.

First, you must decide to whom you must prove your conclusions....  Your family?, the DAR, SAR, or another of the Patriotic organizations?, the readers who will read your book when you have finished?  Your genealogy society when you give your talk next month?  Yourself?  WHO ALL????   

Notice, if you need but satisfy only yourself, how much evidence is enough is easy; if you are comfortable with what you have gathered, the matter is ended.  If you are seeking membership, you must meet THEIR rules, no matter what you find satisfactory or sufficient.  If you are to speak as to the matter, you should establish all evidence that is available to you, and if that quantum is but sparse, you should tell your listeners wherein you yet have lingering doubts.  

If you are writing for publication, you must meet the most critical of reviewers, and nothing but a thorough search and findings of clear and convincing evidence will suffice (preponderances are NEVER adequate, unless after the most diligent search you have found nothing further and have clearly told your reader/listener of that fact).  Remember too, you may have readers 100 years from now, and you should leave your work as a bright monument to your skill, judgment, and thoroughness.  Again, and as always, if you have questions or feel that in some respect your evidence is not as clear or as reliable as you would prefer, SAY SO !!!  Don't make leaps of faith nor presume parenthood without great certainty (your ancestors wouldn't like to have kids foisted upon them that they did not ever have, would you?  :-).  

The whole world knows that you almost surely did not uncover EVERY source or bit of information, so do pretend that you did so.  We all know that the world of records is too vast for you to have done so as to an entire family. 

So, satisfy everyone who must judge your work, be as thorough as life and time permit, be candid, forthright and honest in analyzing and setting forth your findings, remember that what you write becomes a standard by which your skill will be judged for MANY years; and throughout all your efforts, you must maintain absolute intellectual integrity.    Paul



      


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