Proven, probable or a family story: how sure is each fact?
Give every fact in your family history one of three marks. Proven means a record shows it, such as a certificate or a census entry. Probable means it is worked out from records, such as a year of birth from an age on a census. Remembered means a relative told you. All three are worth keeping. The trouble starts only when they are mixed up.
Why family stories need a mark
Every family has its stories. The great-grandfather who ran away to sea. The connection to a famous name. The surname changed at Ellis Island. Some are true, some are half true, and some grew in the telling. A story is still worth keeping: it tells you what the family believed, and it often holds a clue. But it should not sit in the tree looking like a fact a record has proven.
What counts as proof
- Civil records: births, marriages and deaths, with names, dates, places and often parents.
- Census returns: a household on one night, with ages, birthplaces and work.
- Parish registers: baptisms, marriages and burials, before civil registration began.
- Other records made at the time: wills, military records, passenger lists, newspapers.
A record made at the time, by someone who was there, is the strongest. A record made long after, such as an age given at death, is weaker. A tree on another website is not proof at all, however many people have copied it. It is a lead to check.
When records disagree
They often do. A grandmother’s age may move by three years between one census and the next. A name may be spelt four ways. Do not throw either away. Keep both, say where each came from, and choose the one the best evidence supports. A certificate usually outweighs a census age, and a census usually outweighs a memory. But a memory can be the clue that finds the right record.
How Heirstory marks it
Every fact on Heirstory carries its source and says how sure it is.
- Proven facts rest on a certificate, a register or what a census states.
- Probable links are drawn dotted on the tree, with what would settle them. A tree brought in from another site comes in as probable.
- Remembered facts are kept in the relative’s own words. Where relatives remember something differently, each account is kept side by side.
- Nothing is lost when a fact changes. What it said before is kept, with who changed it and when.
- Gene, an AI genealogist, keeps proof, probability and family memory apart, and says plainly when the record does not know. As an AI, Gene can be wrong, so check the sources given.
Questions
Should I delete a family story that a record disproves?
No. Keep it, marked as remembered, beside the record. It is part of your family’s history, even if it is not what happened.
What if two relatives remember it differently?
Keep both, each in their own words. A record may settle it later, or it may not, and both memories are worth having.
Is a tree on Ancestry or another site proof?
No. Another person’s tree is a lead, however carefully it was made. Check each link against a record before you treat it as proven. On Heirstory, a tree brought in from another site comes in as probable until a document or the family confirms it.
Can a dotted line be wrong?
Yes. A dotted line on a Heirstory tree is a probable link, not a proven one. It shows where the evidence points and what would settle it, usually a particular certificate. It becomes solid only when a certificate or the family confirms it.