This afternoon I am taking notes from a book I am consulting for background information and perspectives on St. Augustine at the end of the First Spanish period (the decade or so leading up the the transfer of Florida to the British in 1763). The book is a Ph.D. dissertation, the title and author of which I will not divulge. I do not want to embarrass anyone, but there is something in it that bugs me.
The author has several places in which, in the absence of concrete evidence, she says something "undoubtedly" occurred. Now, this dissertation was finished in 1980. Standards have become more rigorous in the intervening years, in history and certainly in genealogy. But I think we need to stop from time to time and examine the assertions we make and the words we use to make them.
As I have developed as a genealogist and historian over the past four years at the University of North Florida, being exposed to the latest in historical research and writing, as well as to many works from prior decades and prior centuries, I have become more keenly aware of the requirements of clarity and logic in our writings. And beginning next fall, I will be using a good deal of the research I have done, as well as being involved in more and new research, in the writing of my master's thesis. I want to be sure that the statements I make in my master's thesis will be supportable.
Speculation is fine, as long as we are sure we label it as such rather than presenting it as something no longer open to debate. To say that something is "undoubtedly" the case is not proper labeling, to my mind, unless there is good, solid, incontrovertible evidence to back it up. However, the author of this dissertation does not adduce such evidence to her "undoubtable" statements. It would have been better in these cases to use words such as "possibly" or even "probably" rather than to be so final in her assessment. Even with speculation, we have to have something to base it on. What we are doing when we speculate, with some foundation, is saying that here is some circumstantial evidence which seems to indicate that a certain thing may have been true.
Of course, the other side of that coin is that it may not have been true, and we also have to acknowledge that.
Undoubtedly.
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Showing posts with label historical research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historical research. Show all posts
Friday, September 23, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Historical dates
We see a date in a history book or on the web on some "official" website, and we think that this is probably accurate, the real deal, something we can trust and have confidence in.
Don't be too sure about that.
I am beginning to prepare for a talk I will give on my research into the family structure of St. Augustine, Florida, during the Second Spanish Period (1784-1820). The research I have done is extremely complex, and to sum it up in the 10 minutes I will have for my presentation is not possible. What I am planning to do is gather information about a particular day or particular week, depending on how much information there is for any day or week during that period, and present a picture of a typical day or week in St. Augustine sometime between 1784 and 1820. This will be a way to show the human, day-to-day side of the town, say some things about the family relationships and the world and town in which these relationships existed. It will be a bottom-up view of history rather than the traditional top-down view.
I have begun to gather this information, using a 3x5 index card -- yes, I am old school -- for each event on each date. Right now, I am looking at the file on the probate of the will and estate of James Ormond, for whom Ormond Beach, Florida was named. He settled in East Florida, near the former plantation of New Smyrna. He had a wife, Russell (yes, that was her name), neé Walker, and two sons, James Ormond II and Emanuel Walker Ormond. The probate file does not have a record in it which gives James Ormond's exact date of death. Hoping to find at least a tentative date which I might verify later in some other record, I went to the internet.
What I found there is a can of worms.
One website says he died in 1819. Another says 1817. However, the record I am using, his will and attendant documents which form the probate file, come from the East Florida Papers, a collection of original documents from East Florida (mainly St. Augustine) during the Second Spanish Period. The file starts off with a request from the widow Russell Ormond that the closed file on James Ormond's death be reopened, because she, with problems of health and distance, had not been able to come to St. Augustine soon after her husband died.
This request was received by the governor's scribe on 27 September 1809.
Where did the 1817 and 1819 years come from for his death? I do not know. Does someone have an original document with such a date on it? I do not know that, either. I hope I can find another original document which will have a more precise date.
In the meantime, when you come across historical dates in derivative sources, see if you can find an original source which will either corroborate or refute the derivative source's information. Do not just take it at face value.
.
Don't be too sure about that.
I am beginning to prepare for a talk I will give on my research into the family structure of St. Augustine, Florida, during the Second Spanish Period (1784-1820). The research I have done is extremely complex, and to sum it up in the 10 minutes I will have for my presentation is not possible. What I am planning to do is gather information about a particular day or particular week, depending on how much information there is for any day or week during that period, and present a picture of a typical day or week in St. Augustine sometime between 1784 and 1820. This will be a way to show the human, day-to-day side of the town, say some things about the family relationships and the world and town in which these relationships existed. It will be a bottom-up view of history rather than the traditional top-down view.
I have begun to gather this information, using a 3x5 index card -- yes, I am old school -- for each event on each date. Right now, I am looking at the file on the probate of the will and estate of James Ormond, for whom Ormond Beach, Florida was named. He settled in East Florida, near the former plantation of New Smyrna. He had a wife, Russell (yes, that was her name), neé Walker, and two sons, James Ormond II and Emanuel Walker Ormond. The probate file does not have a record in it which gives James Ormond's exact date of death. Hoping to find at least a tentative date which I might verify later in some other record, I went to the internet.
What I found there is a can of worms.
One website says he died in 1819. Another says 1817. However, the record I am using, his will and attendant documents which form the probate file, come from the East Florida Papers, a collection of original documents from East Florida (mainly St. Augustine) during the Second Spanish Period. The file starts off with a request from the widow Russell Ormond that the closed file on James Ormond's death be reopened, because she, with problems of health and distance, had not been able to come to St. Augustine soon after her husband died.
This request was received by the governor's scribe on 27 September 1809.
Where did the 1817 and 1819 years come from for his death? I do not know. Does someone have an original document with such a date on it? I do not know that, either. I hope I can find another original document which will have a more precise date.
In the meantime, when you come across historical dates in derivative sources, see if you can find an original source which will either corroborate or refute the derivative source's information. Do not just take it at face value.
.
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