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We believe it is VERY IMPORTANT that whenever possible anything recorded on a family tree should include some evidence about where the information came from - in other words a SOURCE or references for it.

In this FAQ we describe why sources are important, and give some specific help for adding source references to data on the family trees of this site.

Dick Eastman describes the isues well in his Genealogy Newsletter:

"... I well remember my early days of family tree searches. I would record new information into three-ring notebooks. (This was long before the invention of the personal computer.) I would write down names, dates, places, and perhaps a bit more information that I was lucky enough to find.

Unfortunately, in those early days I did not write down where I obtained the information. Nobody told me that I needed to do this, and I wasn't smart enough to figure it out for myself. I simply assumed that everything I found was accurate. After all, it was printed in a book, wasn't it?

As time passed, I frequently found new information that contradicted what I found earlier. When I discovered these discrepancies, I needed to determine which piece of information was more accurate. The question that arose time and again was, "Where did I find that information?" Sadly, I often did not know.

The better solution would have been to always write down where I found the information along with the data itself. This is known as citing your sources. To quote author Elizabeth Shown Mills in her excellent book, Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian: "Any statement of fact that is not common knowledge must carry its own individual statement of source. ...Source notes have two purposes: to record the specific location of each piece of data and to record details that affect the use or evaluation of that data."..."

Entering source references on family trees here is incredibly easy. They can be included with any event (e.g. birth, marriage, death, divorce, migration etc.). In many cases you can re-use an existing source reference. If the one you need hasn't been created yet, you can easily add a new one.

The basic steps, using a birth record as an example, are:

After adding the normal date, place etc for the event, before you click on Add or Save, look at the bottom of the edit screen for the line that says: "Add a new Source Citation" and click on the '+' to its left.

This opens some new entry fields. The first is "Source". Here you type the reference number for the source. We have over 70 sources already referenced for your use. The full list is under Lists - Source List, but some of the more common are listed below. If you don't know the reference for the source you found, click on the If your source is not on the list, click on to add it.

The next field is the "Citation". Here you describe, in a formal way, where in the source you found the information. This is often a list of information such as Volume, Page, Date, Place, or similar references. The table below shows a typical citation for each of the common sources. The important thing to note for citations is that each element should include a ':' (colon) after its descriptor, and a ',' (comma) after each section.

In some cases there is no real "citation", so that section can be ingnored if necessary. In fact for many sources, all that is required is the reference number (e.g. "S25"). This is often the case when information is supplied by another researcher, particularly in the case of photographs.

The final section called "Text". This is again an optional field. It can be used instead of the citation (if there is no formal reference); or as well as. It allows for free tect entry, but no fancy formatting. Often useful for explantory notes related to the citation.

Once all this information is entered, simply click 'Save' or 'Add' and the job is complete.