DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH !

Many years ago, I read a book called "Farnham's Freehold'. It was a science fiction work by one of the great, though unknown of outside of SF circles, SF authors Robert Heinlein.

In this book, the author's 'heroes' suffer a variety of adventures including one in which they visit a world where the pinnacle of research is achieved by reading, digesting and analysing the works of others; the 'researcher' then decides which of the perused works, or which combination of their conclusions, gives the most logical and sensible answers to the problem being investigated. One fundamental factor is that the 'researcher' never gets their own hands dirty; they simply review the work of others.

That this is a horribly flawed approach to research is obvious to most. Sadly, it is not obvious to many of today's generation, particularly those who profess an interest in family history research. For many of this benighted generation 'research' means little more than trawling the internet, finding anything that vaguely fits in with what they would like to believe, and then asking questions of any contacts they can make. The result is a mish-mash of so-called 'family trees' that are a mixture of truth, half-truth, possibility and pure fantasy. These people call themselves researchers but are, in fact, simple plagiarists and fools, looking for simple answers to complex problems. The idea of conducting genuine research is far beyond them.

I've recently had the misfortune to be contacted by one such 'researcher' who has sent a succession of illiterate and vague questions, having found my on-line family tree. The tree is free and available for anyone to view, but this 'researcher' needs me to explain it all, and my position in it, to him. He's never said 'please' or 'thank you' for the responses I've given him already and simply asks for 'more', Oliver Twist style but without the necessity.

While researching one's family background is a wonderful pastime and can be extremely rewarding, it has to be done with proper understanding and genuine effort. Simply picking names from the internet is not enough, it's not even research; it's a bit of nonsense

Steer clear of such idiots if you can.