Assumptions

[SiriusB]

Thanks. Educated guess is better. As for finding things, yes, already found several skeletons which makes sense of the arguments witnessed between uncles & aunts while growing up.

[youngtug]

 I was told years ago that to assume is to make an "ass" out of "u" and "me". It is something that I have tried not to do since.
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[SiriusB]

Well, so far assumptions (educated guesses) have returned 6 bulleyes. When I order Aunt M's marriage certificate next month, I am certain I can add another.
Grandmothers 1st marriage resulted in 3 children - the last which was born in 1920
Grandfathers 1st marriage resulted in 5 children - The 1st born in 1914
Their 2nd marriage resulted in 6 children - 1st born in 1923, the last in 1933.
The only assumption not made here is one of bigamy.

[youngtug]

Assumptions, guesses, whatever, unless proven that's all they are.

[SiriusB]

In that case, isn't family tree research nothing but assumptions until it is either proven to be true or false?
One must start somewhere.
Of the 6, knew 5, the other died in 1940.
Of the 5, knew 2. As for the other 3, it is known that they lived, worked, married & remained in Ireland.
Of the 3, have confirmation of 1.
So with the info provided with offspring of all 3 marriages, just how would you attempt to research the unknown D.O.B's? Wouldn't you use a range of dates as well as the other relevant data?

[youngtug]

As you say, it is all an assumption until you can find documentation. Of course, now with DNA  even that can be proven to be incorrect. I suppose a lot of trees are  works of art rather than factual records.

[SiriusB]

Sometimes an assumption can be valid & it is how one proceeds from there that matters. I made such an assumption over the holidays from actual experience. I came across 2 consecutive entries for the same marriage. 2 different grooms for the same bride.

What struck me was that the surname of the 1st entry was that of the mother's maiden name of the 2nd entry. Believing it to be a genuine error, I contacted LDS Family Search providing the information & why I thought it was an error.

I received a lovely reply yesterday which explains the 2 entries. I have since found out why it also occurred. At the wedding in question, I was a page boy & the groom getting married was my 1st cousin.

[philipsearching]

At the risk of seeming pernicketty about wording, I would use the word hypothesis.

If I were to make an assumption I might treat it as being true and never check it.  If I were to base follow-up research on a false assumption I could waste a lot of time and end up with a tree full of (red herring) non-ancestors and incorrect information.

When I make a hypothesis I know that it needs (like all hypotheses) to be tested for accuracy.   Follow-up research based on the hypothesis will be provisional until the hypothesis is confirmed (and may need to be deleted if the hypothesis turns out to be incorrect).

Philip

[Mike in Cumbria]

At the risk of seeming pernicketty about wording, I would use the word hypothesis.

If I were to make an assumption I might treat it as being true and never check it.  If I were to base follow-up research on a false assumption I could waste a lot of time and end up with a tree full of (red herring) non-ancestors and incorrect information.

When I make a hypothesis I know that it needs (like all hypotheses) to be tested for accuracy.   Follow-up research based on the hypothesis will be provisional until the hypothesis is confirmed (and may need to be deleted if the hypothesis turns out to be incorrect).

Philip

I was going to type that. You saved me the bother!