How important is it to keep previous typed genealogy records?
I recently inherited older typed genealogy records from my Grandmother. How important is it for me to keep these typed records since everything is online? Follow up question should I be double checking the information on each typed sheet to what it listed online?
Answers
-
I recommend scanning/photographing the typed records, then uploading them to each person's profile on FamilySearch, and also upload them to a personal account separate from FS plus save them off the cloud.
Online records can be accidentally or maliciously destroyed without warning. Websites can be hacked. All family trees should be backed up onto personal computers/flash drive/etc.
Yes, everything should be double checked. There are most likely discrepancies and inconsistencies.
3 -
@ericaslaugh1 asked
"How important is it for me to keep these typed records since everything is online?"
Well, I don't know what these specific typed records are, but, speaking generally, everything is definitely not online. You might have something that isn't recorded anywhere else on the planet, or it might be recorded elsewhere but isn't online, etc etc. So, basically, the only safe thing to do is keep them, cross check them and, where there are differences, try to work out which version is correct.
If stuff is clearly labelled as "Parish Register of XYZ" and that register is online with images, then you can probably make that a lower priority but otherwise, cross check.
Also, bear in mind that published images can be deficient - the FS filming of one register that I know of, turned over 2 pages at once - no criticism is intended, it happens to us all. But I am reliant there on the Ancestry filming which is genuinely separate. Your grandmother's version might be the only record of a missing page if it happened on your records!
3 -
The subtle details/differences in the genealogy you have may be just the thing needed to help others. A middle initial or middle name might be just the thing others might be able to use. An alternative spelling or location detail also can be the one 'clue' used to find supportive records or to deconflict alternatives.
1 -
But please exercise judgment and restraint in uploading older typed genealogy records. For example, I have a fairly well-known great-great-grandfather who settled in Utah and has thousands of descendants. I'm sure that over the years, hundreds if not thousands of Family Group Records were typed up for him as a parent and as a child. It would not be helpful if all those descendants were to upload hundreds of similar FGRs for him.
3
