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© 2005-11 by Jeff Sadow

The gedcom that I have made available here to date has information concerning several families related to me by blood or marriage, with common surnames being Haddock, Hastings, Brickett, Maytham, Callanan, Lott, Cleveland, Anderton, Coatney, Waltz, Pierce, Randall, and Archer. At present, it includes over 21,000 individuals, information about many available nowhere else.

The information compiled here follows a series of rigorous procedures to ensure that the information recorded retains a high degree of validity. In order of precedence, documentation is:

1. Primary source material (mostly copies of vital records) in my possession
2. Published reference works (in paper or electronic form) that rely upon primary source material
3. Electronic versions of primary source material including census records, armed forces records, passport applications, government-kept vital records, and others.
4. Archival collections of family records on the web, including those of the LDS (when reliable), NEHGS, and others.
5. Other gedcoms posted on the web (when they have cited reliable source material)

Heavy reliance was placed upon the first three kinds of sources. Almost every name and relationship on the list was verified through the use of one of the first three kinds of sources (note: even with these, sometimes there is some dispute in which case by decisions were based upon the preponderance of evidence which I explain). At a few points I give estimated years of birth and death, but the people to which this applied in fact left a paper trail of their existences and property.

Every entry was done by hand to check and verify that a preponderance of information supports the information provided. GEDCOMs were not copied wholesale from the Internet without thorough vetting, nor were names, dates, and relationships uncritically accepted (one might be surprised about the sloppiness, misinformation, and numerous desperate attempts to connect back to English royalty there are out there in cyberspace). I seldom cite a source unless it involves an important dispute, but one can be assured that even if I cite few sources, I have made sure what information does appear is sufficiently documented to give a high degree of credibility that it is accurate. Happy hunting!

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