As one of a large number of family historian you will undoubtedly 'cross paths' with several genealogists/family historians in your research of your family tree.
Treat others as you expect yourself to be treated.
Remember, family historians are in search for the truth about their family not folklore.
Good family historians do the following;
Record the source of each event/fact/item they collect. If you receive information from another family historian then you should attribute that information to the family historian by name - eg BDM information courtesy of genealogist John Brown Similarly if you are recording a fact such as a census return or a civil birth, marriage or death record you should quote the civil reference details in your source info.
Test all unproven events or (so-called) facts against credible evidence. Reject those that are not supported by the evidence. Remember genealogy without documentation is mythology.
Try and obtain original records, or if not possible, reproductions or photocopies/scanned inmage to support your research. An image of an authentic document is solid proof.
A fact is something that is supported by evidence. When you presenting 'facts' to other family historians you should provide the supporting evidence (copy of document or reference detail). GENEALOGY WITHOUT DOCUMENTATION IS MYTHOLOGY
Avoid misleading other researchers by carelessly distributing or publishing innacurate information. Distributing or publishing false information based on guesswork just identifies you as a poor researcher and your fellow family historians will treat you as such. Do not publish something you are not sure about, or if you do, qualify it with a comment.
Share your research freely - with provisos regarding living individuals. For privacy reasons details (name, birth & marriage dates etc) should not be published in public places. Share details on the understanding that details of living people are for the recipient's private use only and are not to be published on the web.
If you decide to publish your family tree on the internet in a public forum you have already decided, albeit tacitly, that you are prepared to share your tree. A public forum allows any viewer to take information from your tree at the viewer's whim - no questions asked.
There are many ways to discover a common ancestor in another person's family tree. regardless of how you make the discovery your first instinct is to make contact either by snail mail, e-mail or by telephone.
The same rules apply to whatever way you make contact, but for the purposes of this instruction I will concentrate on e-mail.
Spam is an everpresent feature of e-mail and remember your first e-mail to a fellow family historian will be unsolicited so to avoid your e-mail being junked make sure your subject (Heading) clearly states your interest -
FAMILY HISTORY - Tracy Watkins (1832-1901)
The body of your e-mail should identify you and clearly state why you are writing. You should provide as much information as possible so that your intentions are transparent. I also like to include in the message how I came across their contact address.
The following is an example of an e-mail I recently sent to a new contact:
Hello
My name is Ian Watkins and fellow genealogist Collen Ranger has told me that you are a direct descendant of Edith Mary Grose's brother - Henry William Grose.
Edith Grose was my aunt. She married my father's brother George Roy (Roy) Watkins.
I am trying to locate a Grose family member who may have some photographs of Edith that I could add to my tree. I have two very poor photos of Edith and I was hoping you may be able to help.
I have a family tree web site that lists Edith. The url is: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~watkinsbrown/
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards
Ian Watkins
Armidale, NSW
Photographs obtained from other family hsitorians/relatives should be attributed - eg Photograph courtesy of genealogist John Brown. It is very annoying to see one of your personal photographs published on the net and no source (you) mentioned. Just plain bad manners.
Don't be afraid to correct innacuracies found in other peoples' family trees. Remember we are all seeking the truth about our ancestors. Any suggestions that you make must, of course, be done courteoulsy and with empathy.
Treat people on-line as courteously and civilly as you would treat them face-to-face.
