Hurley's World

In our previous two articles, The Children of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Tuttle) Belcher and The Children of Jonathan Belcher Continued, we searched the New England Historic Genealogical Society's online database, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850, for information on Jonathan and Elizabeth (Tuttle) Belcher and their children. We did find a fair bit of information there which seems to confirm the information we found in the book, however, it is important to note that we have yet to prove the information to be true. For instance, it's is possible that there is an entirely different Jonathan Belcher in Chelsea during that time period and that the one who married Elizabeth Belcher is not the son of Joseph Belcher. Likewise, there could be one or more Jonathan Belchers who are married to Elizabeths and who had children during the same time period. Additionally, even if there is just one Jonathan Belcher present during that time period and he is the son of Joseph, there could have been two Elizabeths.

Some might mention that since they are the same family as in the book, it must be true. Unfortunately, without further information on which sources were consulted for that portion of the book, we can't guarantee that the researcher has done much more than what we have. For instance, if the author of that section copied the information from the Vital Records to 1850 for Chelsea, then the two sources referenced, the Belcher book and the vital records database, are really derivatives of the same source.

In addition, neither the Belcher book nor the vital records database are primary sources. In the case of the vital records database, we know that at the very best, it is a transcription of a transcription since the database is derived from the Vital Records to 1850 series which in turn were derived from other town records (which themselves may be derived, for instance, transcriptions of tombstones). Without looking at the primary sources or a source as close as possible to a primary source, we don't know if the data contained in either has been modified.

So what do we do? For now, we will create a working version of the genealogy using the information we gathered. Then we review the original source documents and use other available records to further prove these facts. For instance, if a will or probate record exists for Jonathan Belcher, it may name the children living at the time he wrote the will. If any of the daughters are married, it's likely that the will will contain at least her married last name and quite possibly the name of her husband. We might find similar information in wills written by others in the extended family, including aunts and uncles, cousins, and in-laws. Besides probate records, we could look into land transactions. Some times, when land changed hands within the family, the relations are mentioned.

There are many records beyond probate and land records, and we hope to investigate a fair number of them in the course of our research. Look forward to more articles in the future.