What is the difference between Data and Information?

A pile of documents or an album of pictures depicts many aspects of genealogy, but someone has to interpret them and explain how they relate to other family information.

• Data are raw, unprocessed facts without context. Data can be names, numbers, text, objects in photos, or any other type of input that hasn’t been analyzed or interpreted. For example, a list of dates and temperatures is data in weather reports. Another example is the names of people and the location of the event.
• Information is data that has been processed, organized, and arranged in a way that adds meaning and context to a narrative, making it useful for decision-making. In genealogy, it tells us more about our ancestors.

Converting the data into information is crucial to success, no matter what your goals are. If your goal is to identify your family’s origins, the names, dates, and place names we find on documents are data that we can interpret and organize into the research notes that eventually will help us find our ancestors’ birthplace in the “old country.” Finding these documents gives us the information needed to tell our ancestor’s story and helps preserve their memory.

Keep Your Family History Simple and Readable _update

You work hard doing your genealogy research and have found many stories you should save for future generations. Go beyond showing the documents and genealogical charts, such as family trees. There are many ways to save and share their family history research, such as newsletters, websites, blogs, and books. I recommend writing it as a narrative so you can publish it and save it in a book format that family members will keep and not toss out.

If you feel you do not have the writing skills needed, I can reassure you that you probably do. Just start writing what you see in the documents. Your family history is not an academic report. You must cite your sources, but do not let its academic nature distract you from the stories. Do not view writing your family history as a report at the end of a project. Try viewing it as a journey of discovery. Just tell it as a story to your family members using your voice and vocabulary.

Remember, your family history is a living document. Be flexible because there will always be new information to add. Be excited to tell the life story of your ancestors in words your family will understand. Do not be afraid to show your heart. Use your voice and style. Do not exaggerate or try to imitate your favorite author. You are writing it for your family. Write down the facts you find for each ancestor chronologically. It does not have to reach the literary level of a best-selling book. So please keep it simple and omit needless words.

Your vocabulary is also essential. Use the words your family typically hears from you. If you must look up the definition of a word, do not use it. Instead, use a word that is comfortable for you.

I encourage you to use your words, voice, and style, but spelling and grammar are crucial in any type of writing, including family history. If you are reluctant to write because these skills intimidate you, grammar checkers such as Microsoft Editor, Prowriting Aid, and Grammarly will help you overcome your fears. These products include a free version on their website or offline for products like Word. You can quickly write your draft at your skill level and then turn on the grammar-checking software to correct errors. Using grammar-checking software can effectively enhance the readability of your narratives.

I use Grammarly as my editor and have had great results. It also gives me suggestions to make my passages more readable. In addition, using this software allows me to spend more time researching and compiling the stories than agonizing over punctuation and grammar.

Initially, a grammar editor may intimidate you because it may catch many instances of spelling errors and your misuse of grammar and punctuation. However, the software is your friend because it points out problems privately before you show the narratives to your family. Your standing within your family should increase because your narratives are so clear. Also, remember the software does not change your narratives but merely suggests changes. The writer can accept the change or dismiss it. For example, I usually accept most punctuation changes but review how the other suggestions may change the meaning of my content before choosing.

Textbooks state all writers strive to create well-written narratives and use the fundamentals of sound writing. This statement may intimidate you from attempting to write a family history. But these lofty visions should not deter genealogists from doing their work. Instead, your goal should be to identify and save family stories using the skills and tools you have. Use your voice and vocabulary to save your research in narratives and software to correct your grammar and readability.

Do the research and enjoy your journey through your family history. Honor your ancestors by saving their memories in the stories you share with your family.

SAMPLE OPENING PASSAGE TO A FAMILY HISTORY

Here is an example of using history to begin your family history. I wrote this excerpt after I had completed most of the research. However, it helped me organize the overall story I tell in my history, and it created an exciting beginning for my family to read.

Our McDowell Family in American History

Thomas McDowell is my 8^th great-grandfather whose father and grandfather had migrated from Scotland to Ireland seeking farmland. However, his six sons left Northern Ireland in the early 1700s to make new homes in the British colonies in America.

Scottish families had migrated to Ireland with the promise of land from King James. However, by 1700, most became upset with the British rule in Ireland and began considering further emigration. The British rulers and landowners in Ireland banned the practice of their Scottish Presbyterian faith. Additionally, they threatened the Scotsmen’s economic future by restricting the trade of Irish goods to only English merchants, banning any European trade. Beginning about 1720, many started leaving Ireland for the Colonies.

Our McDowell family left in the early 1700s to escape religious and political discrimination from the British in Ireland and acquire farmland. They came to America with their families, which included four to eleven children in each family group. Recruiters and land agents from the various American Colonies roamed Irish ports, offering land and freedom to those willing to risk crossing the Atlantic so their families could have a better life in the New World.

After arriving in the American Colonies, our early McDowell pioneers joined other Scotch-Irish families in the rolling hills in Pennsylvania, west of the German communities. They made their home in settlements such as Carlisle, Caln, Nottingham, Donegal, and Stranbane in Washington and Cumberland Counties.  They preferred the hills and valleys next to the Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountains, which included the fertile Cumberland and Shenandoah Valleys in Pennsylvania and Virginia and the Piedmont area in North Carolina. The settlements grew as the early settlers wrote letters home, urging family members to join them. The different McDowell branches settled in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina.  

Thomas McDowell’s sons not only found the freedom and land they were seeking, but they had significant roles in the growth of the colonies and the founding of America. His sons and their descendants were early settlers in western Virginia and North Carolina, clearing land, building settlements, protecting their families from the threat of Indian attacks, and helping the American colonies claim their freedom from the English Crown during the American Revolution, such as leading their militias during the Battle of Kings Mountain, and the Battle at Cowpens.

Colonial settlements required male settlers to be members of their local militia. They formed these groups to protect themselves initially from the Indians, who tried to prevent the immigrants from settling on their native hunting lands. Two of our McDowell immigrants, William and John McDowell, were killed by Indian raids.

During the Revolutionary War, many local militias fought against the British. The sons and grandsons of our McDowell immigrants were members of the colonial Patriot forces who fought the British. Additionally, some were high-ranking officers and played significant roles in winning major battles, such as the Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of the Cowpens. Many are in the history books for their efforts in establishing the early settlements and serving in the military during the Indian Wars and the Revolutionary War.

Many of the McDowells living in Colonial Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina were related, with their common ancestor being Thomas or one of his sons. Unfortunately, their relationships were sometimes confused. They had similar given names, such as Andrew, Alexander, Charles, John, and Joseph. They were also born about the same year. For example, Joseph “Pleasant Garden” McDowell, born in 1758, and  Joseph “Quaker Meadows” McDowell, born in 1756, are often confused. They lived in neighboring counties in western North Carolina.

This confusion is a crucial element to the McDowell story because I have found family historians have recorded many birth and death dates to the wrong family members with the same name or attributed erroneous parents, placing them in the wrong ancestral line. Additionally, Thomas’s son, Ephraim, is erroneously considered the progenitor of the McDowells in Virginia and the territory that became Kentucky. Some historians go further and attribute all McDowells as descendants of Ephraim. However, this confuses the ancestry of the descendants of Ephraim with the descendants of his five brothers.

I hope my McDowell Family History will sort out the confusing issues and give accurate details about their life stories while honoring their contributions to American history.