Some genealogical projects that are redundant

Have you ever seen a book titled something like "The Descendants of Benjamin and Martha Smith"? It records the names and other pertinent data about their children, their grandchildren, etc. Now, consider the possibility that someone else has written a book about the descendants of another couple, and that a descendant of this second couple married a descendant of the first couple. All of the descendants of that marriage would be in both books. Think about the duplication of effort by the authors of these two books.

Next, consider the genealogies that focus on all the families of a town. Although these works can be beneficial to a researcher of a particular family, that researcher should not rely on someone else's work and, therefore, has to consult town records, census records, cemetery records, etc., just like the person(s) who compiled the genealogy of the families of that town.

Finally, there is the whole issue of transcribing material. Sure, we are grateful to that person who, in 1920, copied the first town record book, especially in light of the fire three years later that converted that record book to ashes. But to transcribe, say, a census microfilm (and I'm guilty of this "offense") is inviting error. We all know that the census taker himself (or herself) made errors. We don't need to contribute more incorrect data.

So, what do I recommend? First, genealogies should be surname-based. That is, research should focus on a particular surname, and when someone's surname changes, usually when a woman marries or sometimes in the case of an adoption, do not continue to follow that individual's line. That person's line will be picked up in the genealogy of that surname. In this way, genealogies are mutually exclusive (that is, no overlap and therefore no redundancy) but together comprehensive. Second, instead of producing "mini-genealogies" of lots of surnames in a town or transcribing material, an individual or a historical society would serve the research community better by producing photocopies of town records for handling by those who visit the town and by posting on the internet scanned records and digital images of gravestones for those who cannot travel.

When the above article was written, I was thinking of redundancy only from the producer (=researcher) side. Feedback I received in an e-mail made me realize that redundancy also negatively impacts the consumer, a library for example. Libraries have limited financial resources, and purchasing books that contain overlapping (i.e., redundant) material is a waste of their resources.


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