Stating how you know what you know is critically important for making your information usable over time by others.
I am using a genealogical example today, but this general rule of thumb bit of information is applicable across the board. Context is the Queen of meaning.
Simple statements about how you know something can take your word and move it from the world of conjecture to reasonable information.
The difference between saying my grandmother’s mother was a Brubaker and her family traces back to Switzerland, and me writing down my name, my mother’s name, my grandmother’s name, and the county and state in which they lived most of their lives and where they are buried is the difference between an unverifiable story and enough information to trace these women’s ancestors back to Hans Jacob Brubaker arriving in American Colonies in the early 1700s, if you know what you are doing.
One of the things we will be doing on this site is helping you know what you are doing in several areas related to living your legacy fully including genealogy.
This little bit of difference in how you present what you know is a difference of context. Contextual information is the key to telling good family stories. Good family stories accompanied by a family tree are even better.
And now when it comes to the wonders of being alive today in the 21st Century we can add genetic testing to the composite of yourself you can build to add authenticity to your stories. A relatively simple test can provide you with your overall genetic ancestry. As of this writing, the tests seem to be priced from $99 at archives.com to $199 at National Geographic.
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Post 2, the Letter B, Blogging from A to Z April Challenge