Chat
|
Daily Search
|
My GenForum
|
Community Standards
|
Terms of Service
|
|
|
Considerable material about the descendants of Stephen BOUTWELL (1752-1835) is contained in World Family Tree Vol. 23, Family Tree #335, which is called "Boutwell, Leffler, McMullin of IL, TX 1646-1998." Family Tree #335, which was submitted on 16 April 1998, includes information for 943 people. Unfortunately, this tree is not an unmixed blessing.
The reason that Tree #335 is called "Boutwell, . . ." is because it incorporates all the genealogical data from my 1996 study "Stephen Boutwell (1752-1835): A Revolutionary Soldier of NC, SC, TN, KY, and IL and Some of His Descendants." This study, which is 87 pages in length, is neither acknowledged nor cited. Aside from issues of copyright infringement, there are some serious concerns about this Family Tree.
First, the information reported in this Tree represents a great deal of time and effort by a number of people who are completely unacknowledged. My study contains the following acknowledgement, which is equally applicable here:
"Much of the material arranged here has been provided to me by other researchers. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Inez N. Winton for her pioneering work on this family, and Irene A. Sharpe for providing much valuable material. Betty Head, librarian and genealogist at the Shawneetown, IL public library has provided invaluable assistance. I also have received very useful information from Anna Margaret (Boutwell) Harris, Dan C. Boutwell, Rev. David J. Boutwell, Chuck Roberts, and Judy White."
In addition, Tree #335 contains further family information from Dan C. Boutwell and Jody Boutwell Anderson, which also is unacknowledged.
Second, Tree #335 cannot be regarded as reliable in what it presents. Since no sources or references are given, one must verify everything from scratch. I have found more than a hundred errors in the information in this Tree. These range from misspellings and errors in dates and places to serious relationship errors. In a couple of instances, individuals are shown as marrying two different persons on the same day. One of these marriages is prenatal! Information that I had originally indicated as probable, possible, or even questionable is all presented here as if it has the certainty of the Ten Commandments. The reader of this Forum will find that some of this has since been changed or corrected. In fact, it is these uncertainties that made it hazardous in the first place to enter this family into one of the standard genealogy programs.
The instructions to World Family Tree submitters clearly state that the submitter should obtain permission from the originators of information before sending the information to the World Family Tree project. Tree #335 is an unfortunate violation of this policy.
Followups:
|
| http://genforum.genealogy.com/boutwell/messages/591.html | ||
 |
Agreement of Use Link to GenForum Add Forum |
|