Monday, August 27, 2007

How much do I trust the research of others

This is a question I am facing. For example: My family can trace their roots back to a person named Ebenezer Denyer in Texas. We know he was a Confederate Soldier as we have a letter from his granddaughter, to the government asking for confirmation from their records, and their positive response.

According to a record at Family Search, Ebenezer's parents are William Denyer and Elizabeth Sliver. Which is as far as FamilySearch goes. However on Rootsweb there's a long descendency from Henry Rosenberger of Franconia. A Mennonite born in Germany around 1685. One line of the descendency ends at William and Elizabeth. Apparently all the information in this descendency comes from a book published in 1906 by an AJ Fretz. But I don't know AJ Fretz. I don't have the book. How much do I trust it?

I don't know the individual who entered the data at FamilySearch either so I don't know that Ebenezer's parents are William and Elizabeth. However, the county in Texas where Ebenezer got married does have the certificate, which might possibly contain some confirmation on that score; We'll see.

But it doesn't really answer my question. I downloaded the gedcom, and the Register, and told my mother she probably has a Mennonite minister as a direct ancestor. But I felt the need to insert the 'probably.'

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi John, I have been using the A.J. Fretz book on the Rosenbergers and have confirming information from other sources. I believe that you can trust the book. Fretz was a Reverend for the families he writes about. I am grateful for his book, since my maternal grandfather is a Rosenberger. Therefore, just keep at it. Because with the help from sources such as this, I was able to go further. So, possible distant cousin, good luck and keep digging!