User:Tea and crumpets/Genealogy and reliable sources

When considering lists of descendants and ethnicity claims on Wikipedia, it is important to establish whether or not such claims are verified by reliable sources and are within Wikipedia's guidelines. This article is a guide to evaluating genealogical sources and claims on Wikipedia.

Common pitfalls

Original research

See also: WP:OR

Wikipedia editors may cite documents such as birth, marriage or death certificates to establish parent-child or spousal relationships for biographical articles. However, if a Wikipedia editor cites multiple genealogical sources or their own self-published research to declare a multi-generational linkage between two individuals, this is original research.

Creating a directory

See also: WP:DIRECTORY and WP:NOTABILITY

Wikipedia is not a place to catalog how everyone on the planet is related. That is the mission of WikiTree, not Wikipedia. Only notable people should be included in Wikipedia, and lists of notable descendants should actually be notable. A genealogy of a person's ancestors or descendants should not be included within a biographical article unless it is notable to the subject.

Individuals should not be categorized into lists of descendants or specific ethnic groups unless there is documentation in their respective articles that they belong to said ethnic group. If their relationship to said individual or ethnic group is not notable enough to be mentioned in the article, they should not be categorized into said ethnic group (i.e. just because you think someone is a descendant of Pocahontas, that doesn't mean they should be categorized as Powhatan or in a category called "Descendants of Pocahontas").

Non-reliable sources

Genealogies on websites such as Geni, Ancestry, FamilySearch Family Tree, WikiTree, WeRelate, etc. contain user-contributed information and are not reliable sources.

Gray areas

Published genealogies

Published genealogies in print are widely available on the internet. When evaluating published genealogies, consider the author of the genealogy, when it was published, and whether or not sources are cited. Often these are self-published books done by hobbyists who do not cite all of their sources. Hobbyists also might cite their sources but have not done thorough research. Such genealogies should be considered unreliable sources.

However, some published genealogies are considered reliable. Such genealogies are published by respected genealogical societies that hire qualified genealogists. Notable examples include Mayflower Families for Five Generations published by the Mayflower Society, and the genealogy of Confucius published by the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee.

Published research by journalists

Journalists, bloggers, or other individuals may publish the genealogy of notable people online or in print. Because these individuals may be considered hobbyists or amateurs (unless they are a respected genealogist, see below), they may not do thorough research. Therefor, their research may not be considered reliable. However, it may be considered notable under certain circumstances, so may be a reliable source, depending on what is being proven.

Reliable sources

Research by a respected genealogist

Professional genealogists generally do research for private individuals. Their research is not generally published. Hence, a notable person my have had their genealogy researched, but the details of the research are not available. News articles or other sources may state that an individual hired a genealogist and found they were or were not related to so-and-so.

The problem is that genealogists do not always do accurate research. You do not have to be licensed to be a professional genealogist. Anyone can start a genealogy business, whether or not they are qualified. There is little to no regulation in this field. However, there are respected bodies that certify and accredit genealogists according to reliable standards. The most notable in the United States are the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen). Genealogists certified by the BCG are known as "Certified Genealogists" (CG) and Genealogists accredited by ICAPGen are known as "Accredited Genealogists" (AG). Lists of people with these credentials can be found on their respective websites. If the genealogist who did the research is named, and the genealogist has these credentials, it can usually be considered reliable.

Genealogists also may be qualified but not accredited or certified. Various independent genealogists and genealogical firms are still respected by the genealogical community as doing thorough research, even though they are not certified or accredited. Genealogists who are not certified or accredited may have their work published in a peer-reviewed genealogical journal. TV shows such as Finding Your Roots and Who Do You Think You Are? hire teams of genealogists to do research for the shows. Such research is usually reliable, although any cases of criticism of their reliability should be noted.