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Title: Identifying Ancestral Haunts

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2005

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Abstract: Imagine the possibility of an online interactive map as an interface, with symbols indicating the location of events in each person’s life, such as the place of birth, marriage, offspring, migration routes, death, and burial site. Add to that links to family photographs, audiovisual material, biographies, and information on the world events that shaped their lives. This is a realistic goal, as evidenced by historians utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GISs) for similar pursuits in picturing the past. Other initiatives demonstrate alternate methods of implementing interactive mapping of chronological events, some incorporating multimedia (Southall & White, 1998; Zerneke, 2003). The purpose of this paper is to understand the information needs and the process undertaken by family historians, or genealogists, in their quest to build a GIS database for visualizing ancestral haunts. Do online sources provide the geographic information necessary, or are traditional institutions, such as archives and government records offices, the sole keepers of material needed for validating the physical context of past events? What environmental barriers, such as time and cost, exist in locating suitable information? What accessibility and credibility factors are encountered when using online or traditional information sources? It is expected that this research will demonstrate the limitations of both online and traditional research material, indicating an opportunity to build bridges aimed at reducing unnecessary detours in the search for family history. The first part of this paper provides an overview of the information necessary for building a digital map of past places and related events. It discusses traditional access to relevant material versus that offered by online databases and individual contributors. The search for location evidence is not limited to genealogists; in fact, historians and geographers have similar needs as cited in the literature. A model is presented illustrating the common information needs of these groups and is related to previously published models of information theory and behavior. The remaining half of this paper describes a preliminary case study completed to identify and evaluate the relevance of information found to map location history, using both traditional and online sources. The study objective was to trace one individual’s lineage back to a known relative living in the American colony of Virginia around the 1700s. Relevance ratings were assigned to each source and are presented along with the findings and unresolved information gaps. Although this study was limited to a small sample, it points to future research opportunities.

Url: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byufamilyhistorian/vol4/iss1/5/

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Authors: Ruvane, Mary B

Periodical (Full): BYU Family Historian

Issue: 5

Volume: 4

Pages: 33-56

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage

Countries: United States