Evidence Analysis Issues

I am beginning to revise my work and the first ancestor has a name problem. She has at least ten variations on the records and, though she could read and write, I have no record signed by her. None are used more than once in combination. There are many Trees on this family and they have chosen one of the names, the one settled on after about two generations of descendants. Before that, the whole family seemed to have a name problem.

I'm trying to apply the GPS to tear down one of my brick walls in Aalten, the Netherlands. 

My ancestor Hendrik Bengevoort married in 1767, had three children with his first wife, remarried in 1778 (no children) and again in 1795. He then went on to have two more children with the third wife, the last of whom was born in 1799. Hendrik had died in 1798, leaving a pregnant wife behind. 

Long ago I remember a lecture, a class or maybe somebody just told me that it was not uncommon for someone to only name there single children in a will as the married ones had already received there inheritance. I have a will dated 22 July 1850 from Canada where only the single children are listed and the oldest son is listed as one of two executors.

Are there any articles or books that might explain the reasons for this? Was this really common practice and why?

Ann Gilchrest

For my master's thesis, I am trying to reconstruct slave households and track the famlies after Emancipation. Many of the blacks enslaved by this white family, which had more than one plantation, had the same names. When I use the records created by the slaveholders, how do I determine which slave the record is talking about?

When writing a proof argument, how do all of you decide when and where to draw the line on discussing “negative” searches (that is, searches that yielded no relevant findings)? Providing extensive lists of sources checked is not practical, particularly in a work product intended for possible publication, but failing to acknowledge the examination of important sources would suggest the search was less than thorough.

What criteria do you use to decide which negative searches are worth mentioning?

Laura

I am wondering just how much straight-up technical knowledge would one require to be able to properly analyze the evidentiary value of information contained only in a URL? MJN recently publicized such a case on the APG list and there was a discussion of how to cite such a thing. I'm wondering how (or whether) a non-techie could analyze and evaluate it.

Harold