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Ancestry Daily News
10/17/2001 - Archive
This Disk's for You! Or Is It? Some Thoughts on Assessing the Research Value of CDs
Names, how many names? Just about every genealogical CD for sale
wants to impress the potential buyer with vast numbers, in the millions sometimes,
but certainly in the tens of thousands. Is this a valid way to judge the usefulness
of a disk full of data? Not by itself. Numbers of names, in my opinion, only
impress when accompanied by some information on their context; that is, the
when and where associated with all the data. This article examines two CDs from
this perspective.
The 1848 Petitions: The William Smith O'Brien Petition
Elsewhere on the Ancestry Web site you can read reviews of this CD. These
are by (Elizabeth
Kelly Kerstens) and (Dick
Eastman) and both appeared in May of this year. One gives a little more
historical background, the other places emphasis on working with disk. They
refer to the importance of the names in the list because of the time period
and the shortage of records; they discuss the number of names that come from
Ireland and England. Both reviewers recommend the resource. If all you know
is that an ancestor came from Ireland about the time of the famine, without
any idea of place of origin, then a CD such as this is worth consulting. However,
it should not be done 'blind.' When you search the disk how do you know what
has been covered, a broad area across the country, a limited area, or something
in between? Without the context, the search lacks meaning.
If, on the other hand, if you know exactly where the ancestor came from and
are consulting the CD because basic records are missing or you want additional
information, then it is important to know whether the database contains entries
from the area of interest.
How does The 1848 Petitions stack up? On the cover it states that there are
eighty thousand names - seventy thousand from Ireland and ten thousand from
England. There is no clue on the outside as to how these names are spread about
the country. Load the CD, and the opening view offers several choices, including
'About this Publication,' 'Getting Started,' and 'Technical Support.' If you
select 'About this Publication' there are five choices, one of which is 'Introduction
by Ruth Lawler.' This is all about O'Brien, and why so many Irish people were
signing petitions on his behalf; but, hidden about one third of the way down,
is a section, 'Number of Signatures per County.' For all thirty-two counties
of Ireland, and for eight areas in England you see the number who signed and
what percent this is of the total number, i.e., of the eighty thousand. It could
be very important that you know there are forty two thousand, five hundred and
sixty signatories from Dublin (52.6 percent of the names on the CD), or none
from Offaly (formerly King's County). There are more than four thousand each
from Clare, Tipperary, and Liverpool in England. Six counties in Ireland and
two areas in England have from one to one hundred entries, or roughly one tenth
of one percent. Anyone using this CD should go into the Introduction and refer
to this table. It would be a great help if the information about the high Dublin
numbers, and the names of counties with more than a thousand names could be
printed on the packaging.
A little more than what is on the outside of the disk case can be found by visiting
the publisher's Web site at www.eneclann.ie
Select 'publications' and then 'take a closer look' at the 1848 Petitions. This
does say that Offaly is missing, and that Dublin makes up half the entries.
In addition, there were 166 petitions, the majority of signatories were farmers,
and less than 10 percent were women.
The matter of 'when' does not, on first consideration, seem an issue here -
the petitions were all signed at roughly the same time in 1848/9. It may matter,
however, because this is described as a useful resource at a time when records
are scarce, and when genealogists rely heavily on Griffith's Primary Valuation.
What many fail to consider is that this Valuation was prepared over many years.
Check the year of valuation in a county of interest. Was it 1848, or later?
How might this information affect your assessment of the value of The 1848 Petitions?
Griffith's Primary Valuation was started in 1848 and completed in 1864; so,
for some places, the petition is signed close to the same time and in others
as much as sixteen years before. The introduction comments on the value of relating
petition information to the Valuation. I would like to see a third column in
the 'Number of Signatures per County' table giving the date of Griffith's Primary
Valuation.
Am I at odds with my fellow reviewers? Not at all. This is a valuable resource
and I find the search options on the CD straightforward to use. On the other
hand, I would not give a blanket recommendation that everyone interested in
nineteenth century Irish genealogy purchase it. Each genealogist should make
the effort to evaluate the relevance of the data to their personal research
needs.
National Burial Index
This is an ongoing project of the Federation of Family History Societies,
and the initial CD was issued earlier this year. Countless volunteers, coordinated
through local family history societies, input the information. There are about
five million names from 1538 to 2000, and coming from most of England and somewhat
less than half of Wales.
This CD case provides some vital information for judging the relevance of the
data to personal research. There is a list of every county represented along
with the number of records rounded to the nearest thousand; and, where the number
is under one thousand, that is indicated.
Those who designed the features of this index deserve high praise. Information
about geographical and date distribution is accessible and clear. Open the case
and, on a county basis, a color-coded map distinguishes between no entries and
three levels of coverage. On the screen, the menu bar offers the selection 'Reference'
for accessing coverage by place or coverage by date.
Selecting place produces a small map, a list of place names and two tabs, place/parish
or county details. There are four thousand four hundred and forty parish/place
names and when one is selected a red dot appears on the map to show where it
is. Opt to look at details and up pops a box indicating the name of the parish,
dedication of the church, dates indexed, number of burials indexed. Under the
county tab is the distribution map found in the case. It is possible to request
a printout of county information, i.e., a comprehensive report for the places
indexed in that county.
The date information is also informative. This is a bar graph showing roughly
how many entries for every year from 1538 to 2000. The best represented years
fall between 1813 and 1837 (the year civil registration began). Through the
1500s and 1600s coverage is not extensive; consistent levels of ten thousand
index entries per year begin in the 1750s. In modern times, the number of entries
falls below ten thousand per year about 1900 and gets progressively lower as
the years increase.
On the cover, from the distribution map inside, or through coverage
information incorporated into the program, sense of context is there. Also,
geographic setting is incorporated into individual searches. Once a list of
entries is displayed, double-click on any one and a box appears with all the
details of the entry and a small map on which a red dot marks the location.
It is possible to move up or down the list while maintaining this detailed view.
Several counties are not here; there are no entries for Cornwall, Cumberland,
Devon, the Isle of Wight, Nottinghamshire, Rutland, and Sussex. In Wales, there
are none from Anglesey, Brecknock, Caernarvon, Carmarthen, Denbigh, Flint, Merioneth,
and Pembroke. Also, note that the index uses the ancient county boundaries and
new style dates (e.g. 10 February, 1744/45 is 1745). To find out more about
the project and see a list of numbers of records per ancient county (rounded
to the nearest thousand) visit the Web site of the Federation of Family History
Societies at: www.ffhs.org.uk
Conclusion
When considering CD purchase ask a few questions. What record(s) is it derived
from? Where? When? These examples illustrate two ways context has been addressed.
I hope the reviews help you assess your CD purchases in future, and encourage
those who package CDs to tell us more.
Sherry Irvine, CGRS, FSA (Scot) has been researching her British ancestry
for thirty years. She founded Interlink Bookshop and Genealogical Services (www.interlinkbookshop.com)
in 1988; she currently lectures in Canada and the United States and is vice
president of the Association of Professional Genealogists. You can e-mail Sherry
with suggestions for future British genealogy articles at sherryirvine55@myfamily.com.
She will not be able to send personal replies, but will feature some questions
in upcoming issues of the Ancestry Daily News. Sherry also regrets that
she is unable to assist with personal research. Sherry is also the author of:
Your Scottish
Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
Your English
Ancestry: A Guide for North Americans
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