Treasure Chest Thursday - The Only Surviving Copy

One of the first things my grandfather gave me was his father's Army discharge. It was folded up in an envelope.

Earl Bruce Shaw served in the Army Air Corp from 1917 to 1919 as a mechanic. He was discharged as a private first class (PFC) from Post Field, Fort Sill on 19 January 1919.

I contacted the National Personal Records Center for more information on his service. Unfortunately his records were destroyed in the 1973 fire. All they had were his name, military service number, and date of separation. When they learned that I had his original discharge, the NPRC asked me for a copy, which I sent them.

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Source
    Earl B. Shaw, "Honorable Discharge from the Army of the United States," 1919; privately held by Jennifer Shaw, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Canyon Country, CA, 2005. Passed from Earl to his son James, who gave it to his granddaughter.

The Genealogical Proof Standard, step 4

Sources don't always agree. Sometimes someone didn't really know the information they provided, other times someone out-right lied. Which source do you believe when they contain conflicting information?
From the Genealogical Proof Standard:

4. We resolve any conflicts caused by items of evidence that contradict each other or are contrary to a proposed (hypothetical) solution to the question [1]

Compare the conflicting information. You need to decide which source is more reliable. First, what are you trying to prove with your information? A date of birth? The maiden name of a mother? Military service?

Look at the analysis you did in step 3:

• An original source has more weight than a derivative source
• Primary information is more creditable than secondary information
  

Try creating a chart comparing the information you have and the sources it came from. Also consider:

• Who gave the information?
• Does the grandson-in-law really know the birth information for a death certificate?
  
• What is the record?
• Are you looking at the marriage affidavit, license, certificate or return?
  
• Why was the record created?
• E.g. on a marriage affidavit someone has sworn that both parties are of legal age.
  
• When was the record created?
• A delayed birth return might be less creditable than a return made a day or two after the birth.

Always keep in mind... 

Sources can lie! 

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Sources
[1] The Board for Certification of Genealogist, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual (Orem, UT: Ancestry Publishing, 2000), 1.

The Genealogical Proof Standard, step 3

We collect many pieces of information as we search for our ancestors. How we look at and weigh that information determines what we learn.
The third step in the Genealogical Proof Standard:

3.  We analyze and correlate the collected information to assess its quality as evidence.[1]

Source - the record
Original—first oral or recorded form; the original document, artifact, photograph, etc.
Derivative—derived from the original, either by copying or manipulating the information (transcript, abstract, compilation, database, etc.)

Information - content of the source
Primary—first-hand account/knowledge of event (someone who was there). Created at or about the time the event occurred.
Secondary—account/knowledge of someone who was not there. Someone who heard about it or was told about it later. Or someone recalling an event long after it happened.

Evidence - our interpretation of the information; the weight we give it
Direct—information that answers the question or solves the problem by itself; self-contained
Indirect—information that, compiled with others, answers the question or solves the problem

Negative—“an inference we can draw from the absence of information that should exist under particular circumstances”[2]

Sources provide information from which we select evidence for analysis.

- Elizabeth Shown Mills

Other things to ponder:
Who created the document and/or provided the information?
What is it?
Why was it created?
When was the record created and/or manipulated?
Where was it created and where is it kept?
How was it create/reproduced/derived?

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Look at each piece of information a source provides and weigh it as evidence:

This is the death certificate for Chloe (Nichols) Fitts. The image above is a third-generation original source (it is a digital image of a microfilm picture of the original). The informant is Chloe Taft, her daughter, and a resident of Oxford, Mass. Mrs. Fitts died 14 August 1911 in Oxford, Worcester County, Massachusetts. This information is primary, as it was recorded at the time of death by someone who was there. Her cause of death is "old age," and at "99 years, 6 months, and 6 days," it is valid, although I would list it as indirect evidence since I do not know what, exactly, she died of. The date of birth listed is 8 February 1812, which agrees with the age at death. She was born in Oxford, Mass. The birth information is secondary - her daughter was not there when she was born. The evidence is direct since it tells us exactly when and where she was born. The same analysis for her parents, John P. Nichols and Sophia Shumway: secondary and direct. Mrs. Fiits is the widow of David Fitts, who preceded her in death (primary and direct, as her daughter would have known first-hand who her father is and when he died). Chloe (Nichols) Fitts was buried 17 August 1911 at Gore Cemetery in Oxford (primary and direct). The death certificate was filed 16 August 1911.
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Sources
[1] The Board for Certification of Genealogist, The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual (Orem, UT: Ancestry Publishing, 2000), 1.
[2] Elizabeth Shown Mills, Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Pub. Co., 2007), 25.
[image] "Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915," digital image, FamilySearch (http://pilot.familysearch.org/ : downloaded 24 September 2009), Chloe (Nichols) Fitts, death certificate no. 46, 14 August 1911, Oxford, Massachusetts; citing FHL film no. 2396049.