U DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE REASONING AND LOGICogdenfsl.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/10-Deductive... · 2016-09-01 · Deductive/Inductive Reasoning and Logic Presented by Holly T

USING DEDUCTIVE AND INDUCTIVE

REASONING AND LOGIC

RESEARCH GUIDE

Copyright © 2016 Family History Expos, Inc.

All Rights Reserved

Compiled by

Holly T. Hansen

Family History Expos

PO Box 187

Morgan, Utah 84050

www.FamilyHistoryExpos.com

801-829-3295

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Table of Contents

Deductive/Inductive Reasoning and Logic .............................................................................................................. 4 Do you have enough information? ...................................................................................................................................4 Do you have too much information? ...............................................................................................................................5 A Quiz Using Deductive Reasoning and Logic .............................................................................................................5 Do the Facts Speak for Themselves?................................................................................................................................6

Simple Source Citations....................................................................................................................................................... 9

Presented by:

Holly T. Hansen, President and Founder of Family History Expos, Inc.

Holly has been instrumental in helping thousands understand the principles, strategies, and sources they can use to trace their roots in today's ever-changing technological environment.

She is the mastermind behind more than 50 Family History Expos, held across the United States, and numerous Retreats at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah

and other repositories in diverse cities. She is dedicated to helping individuals and families, one-on-one, with their personal research needs. Currently, she is involved creating podcasts, webinars, and video presentations to help people move forward in their family history endeavors

with the comforts of home.

Holly's titles include author, lecturer, editor, and publisher. She has produced more than 100

unique syllabus and class handout books for Family History Expos attendees. She is a former editor of Everton's Genealogical Helper magazine, and editor of the 10th and 11th editions of The Handybook for Genealogists, with more than one million copies sold. She has also authored

The Directory of North American Railroads, Trekking for Ancestors, and co-authored a series of 16 family history interview books entitled Celebrating and Capturing the Memories and 20 in-

depth Research Guides for many aspects of family history research.

Holly and her husband, Chris P. Hansen, have been married for 38 years and are the parents of five remarkable children. Holly received an Honors BA in History from Weber State University

and continues to dedicate time to education on a daily basis.

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Deductive/Inductive Reasoning and Logic

Presented by Holly T. Hansen

Email: [email protected] Website: www.FamilyHistoryExpos.com

This class is designed to assist individuals learn why and how using forms can help with research analysis and correctly documenting genealogical research. Research analysis makes the

difference in creating a true and correct family history to be shared with others.

Do you have enough information?

There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated –And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated (Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21).

Based on the above scripture, there are blessings to be obtained if we are obedient to God’s laws. Let’s consider the blessing of salvation for both the living and the dead as promised in the 128th

section of the Doctrine and Covenants. How do we obtain that blessing? What are the laws that might apply? (See Doctrine and Covenants 127:4 & 9; 128:24)

How do we know that the book or record we present/submit to the holy temple is worthy of all

acceptation? Do we have enough information to put our research in order, that it may be held in remembrance from generation to generation?

Consider the Law of Witnesses. The law of witnesses is an important and prominent law in the practice and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The scriptural law of witnesses requires that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established

(Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1; 1 Timothy 5:19).

This law applies in divine as well as human relations, for members of the Godhead bear witness

of one another (John 5:31-37; 3 Ne. 11:32), books of holy writ give multiple witness to the work of God in the earth (2 Ne. 29:8-13), and even in modern scripture we are counseled to certify the work of baptism for the dead that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be

established (Doctrine and Covenants 128:3). The Lord has required that the work in the temples be recorded to be sure it is truthful.

It is our responsibility to be sure that the names we submit are correct as well. We will be held accountable for errors as well as receiving blessings for the work we submit to the temple. Do you have enough information to present a record worthy of all acceptation? Do you have two or

three witnesses to your family history facts?

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Do you have too much information?

Do you find yourself with a headache trying to sort all the data you have on a family member or

group of families? Deductive reasoning and logic assists us to use the evidence to eliminate wrong choices and come up with the correct data.

We must understand what we are working with in order to correctly use the resources available to us. This will assist us in creating a record worthy of acceptation.

Example: Submissions to the FamilySearch Family Tree include:

4-Generation Family Group Sheets (Submitted on paper with limited documentation)

Ancestral File (Many submissions submitted by members and typed in by a third person.

No documentation was available)

Pedigree Resource File (Multiple submissions for the same family members submitted by

relatives and descendants)

FamilySearch

New.FamilySearch

Family Tree (Includes all the records mentioned above plus membership records, Temple

Records, and other collections with valuable data)

Because all the data included in the Family Tree contains duplicate entries submitted over 150

years from numerous genealogists, gives us a great advantage and challenge. As you work back one generation at a time, take time to verify what is there, clean up and standardize the data

(merge obvious duplicates after you have looked at all the data and sources).

Nearly all data used to seed to what is now known as FamilySearch Family Tree were submitted with the intent to do Temple work. Spending time analyzing and correctly documenting our

family history on Family Tree is important in creating an offering in Righteousness. If each of us start out with our self then add immediate family members working back one generation at a

time until we have our 4-generations complete, we will learn a great deal about our family and the tools available to help us correctly document our family history. Document them with records, photos, video, and written histories. Family Tree is the repository for confirmed and

proved data, worthy of acceptation. Many records already exist in Family Tree multiple times for the same person; some records have erroneous mistakes. Be aware of and watch for errors, then

correct them. Use the resources available to improve your family data on Family Tree. Family Tree is a compilation of many years of work from many people, some who are no longer living. It is our turn to work in the vineyard using our deductive reasoning and logic. We have access to

more records than any generation has had in the history of time. Take advantage of classes and consultations from those with more experience than you. Learn to use the tools correctly,

increase your personal skills and enjoy new phase of family history work.

A Quiz Using Deductive Reasoning and Logic

Reportedly—Albert Einstein, as a boy, developed this quiz. Some claim that only 2% of the

population has the ability required for solving it. There are diverse versions of this quiz on the Internet. Wikipedia calls it the Zebra Puzzle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Puzzle) and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zebra_Puzzle

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gives some historical info on it. Do you fall among the percentage of those who can solve this quiz? Don’t worry if you have a struggle solving this one—studies have shown that just trying to

tackle deductive reasoning and logic problems makes you smarter. The puzzle has been adapted for genealogical fun.

The question:

Who has the “Will?

Known Facts:

1. There are five houses of five different colors arranged in a strait row. 2. Within each house lives a different cousin; each has a bit different nationality.

3. Each of the five cousins drinks a different beverage, keeps a different pet, and has a different family history document about their common ancestor.

4. You are facing the row of houses and you read left to right.

Hints:

1. The Argentine lives in a red house.

2. The Spaniard has a census document. 3. The English drinks tea. 4. The green house owner drinks juice.

5. The green house is on the left of the white house. 6. The owner who has a bounty land document keeps a cat.

7. The owner of the yellow house has a horse. 8. The owner of the house right in the middle drinks milk. 9. The Frenchman lives in the first house.

10. The owner who has a dog lives next to the one who has a death certificate. 11. The owner who has the family bible document lives next to the one who has a horse.

12. The owner who has a chicken drinks Coffee. 13. The German has a cow. 14. The owner with a dog has a neighbor who drinks wine.

15. The Frenchman lives next to the blue house.

Do the Facts Speak for Themselves?

After years of intense genealogical research, I have realized, facts rarely speak for themselves. Once I entered the arena to solve intense and twisted genealogical problems, my understanding of the relationship of facts to information increased. While many researchers use these word interchangeably (belief and fact), they are different:

1. Facts–individual pieces of data. Genealogical facts are usually birth date, birth place, marriage date, marriage place, death date, death place, and a whole list of additional, important items such as: occupation, name, religious membership, military rank, and so

on. Facts are true; there is no false fact. Consider this about the English language as you review the facts on your pedigree chart.

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2. Information–pieces of data arranged into meaningful context. We extract the genealogical facts, we combine and compare these facts. We may add our own

interpretation of these facts and how they relate to each other. 3. Analysis–identifying the specific patterns in these individual pieces of data. We separate

the patterns and relationships from the whole. When we match the data for fit with what we already know, we synthesize these facts.

4. Wisdom–applying our genealogy experience to these patterns and relationships for

decision making–who fits where in the family? As we gain experience and mature in research, we may do it automatically.

5. Knowledge–formal discovery of pieces of data and the benefits of clearly understanding the patterns they create.

Understanding the words more clearly, leads to the correct application of the process. Just think, for a piece of data to become a fact, it must be true. There are no false facts.

The evidence of belief is quite different from the evidence of fact. This should be engraved across your computer and research notebook.

Never discredit family traditions. Kernels of fact lace through reams of belief and, because it is your tradition, those kernels are connectors for you to the truth of your background.

Arlene H. Eakle once pointed out to me, we all too often research in instant reject mode:

Believing we know the answer before we have collected the data, analyzed the evidence, compared what we already have, and resolved discrepancies between what we thought or believed to be true with what the records actually say.

This statement pointed to the fact that one must constantly be reminded to:

Question your work: ask yourself, “What do I believe to be true?” Write it down. Chart

the relationships you think are correct. Do the math: do the dates align correctly? A generation is between 20 and 50 years, depending upon where your ancestor falls in birth

order. Is there room for another generation? Is your generation too short?

Gather factual information wherever you can. New readings of old records are being

published every year. New indexes to previously unindexed work are advertised online, in genealogy publications, or appear in direct mail pieces landing in your email inbox–or

postal mailbox. Digital images of scanned microfilm (of original documents) are as close as your computer for comparison.

Be willing to consider new information. Information that is in conflict with your beliefs.

At the same time while you reflect on these new ideas, beware of being too easily influenced or even tricked by a spelling variation, or a date that is just a bit off, or a

migration pattern that swings unexpectedly into a different county.

Not so long ago, when we began to trace a lineage, we would seek for the marriage records, traipse through the hills, meadows, and cities, climb mountains, ford streams and pick our way

through thorn infested graveyards, just to read the tombstones. It was critical to interview local

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residents, take pictures of the home and other memorabilia. Often, these research excursions were made with the intent to prove what was on the pedigree.

Now, with the internet, you can go on a fact-finding mission through the new indexes, the

newly-read or, re-read sources, digital collections abound online, and we can collaborate with and look at the work of other genealogists.

Such fact-finding is a very profitable thing to do. Locating one solid fact, supported by this

challenging evidence, is worth a hundred beliefs. That is, if you set aside your belief in order to use the facts you find. You have to be decisive and then, firm and determined to see the proof.

And to let the proof build the family relationships and the pedigree.

This is called inductive reasoning: you examine the records, collect the evidence, and let the evidence dictate the answer.

Most genealogy is compiled using deductive reasoning: you begin with a belief, you check the evidence which supports that belief, and you prove it to be true. The flaw here, is that when your

belief appears to be proven, you stop your search. You don’t examine all the candidates. You don’t account for all the discrepancies. Actually, you may miss the real ancestor, hidden in the

records awaiting your discovery.

I get very excited when the tax rolls reveal an extra son not found on the census. Or when, in the cemetery I find a very young woman, with two infant babes buried beside her. Family members

who have been ignored because no one knew they was there.

Not acknowledging the essential difference between belief and fact is a big problem in genealogy. And now DNA is here to help us realize that yet again, another look is needed!

Warren Buffet made a statement you could hang right by your computer:

You’re neither right nor wrong because people agree with you. You’re right because your facts and your reasoning are right.

If this statement resonates with you, use wisdom to guide in your pursuit of the correct ancestors. Look for the “Hidden Ancestors” who always seem to be unattached and left over when you get

through matching the marriage entries. Their names are there in the sources alright, but they appear only after careful study and analysis.

Study the extra people who carry the same surnames as family members you definitely know.

Track them, watch carefully at what they are doing, when they are doing it, and where you find them. Were they in the same cemetery? Listed in the militia roll? Serving as a witness on a deed

or a will? Study them, you will be glad you did! Two people with the same name are usually real and not a mistake of the compiler.

© 2016 Holly T. Hansen

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Simple Source Citations

By Holly T. Hansen

Email: [email protected] Website: www.FamilyHistoryExpos.com

Cite your sources so others can follow your research path as they learn how to research and create a genealogy book worthy of acceptation. Here are a few simple examples of how to cite

your sources in Family Tree and in your written family history.

Simple and basic pattern for a source citation:

[Author’s or compiler’s name in full]. [Title of book/document/film] ([Publication Place]: [Publisher’s name], [Publication date]), [page].

Example:

Thompson, William Howard. Joseph Lewis Thompson Family, (St. George, Utah: Dixie College, 1976), 493.

Local government records:

[Jurisdiction]; [Title of certificate, document or series]; [Certificate, file, volume or series number]; [Repository name]; [Repository location].

Example:

Utah, Weber County; Certificate of Birth; File no. 485; State Board of Health; Salt Lake City.

Periodical citation:

[Author]. [“Article Title,”] [Name of Journal, Newsletter, or Magazine], [Vol] [(Date)] [page numbers or URL].

Example:

Fogelman, Aaron. “Migrations to the Thirteen British North American Colonies,” The Journal

of Interdisciplinary History, 22 (Spring 1992) 691-710.

Interview citation:

[Name interviewee/storyteller]. [Title of Interview]; [Address for storyteller] [Name of

interviewer/researcher]. [date]; [Address for researcher].

Example:

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.familyhistoryexpos.com/

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Thomson, Clara Shupe. Interview with Mrs. Matthew Thomson; 1940 N. 6900 E., Croydon, Utah 84018. by Holly Thomson Hansen, July 16, 2014; 1950 N. 6900 E.; Croydon, Utah 84018.

Online website:

[Name of website] [URL] [Date of search]

Example:

Legacy.com; http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=virginia-mickey-thomson-piepgrass&pid=156081306&fhid=12973; searched on July 16, 2014.

FamilySearch databases:

GOOD NEWS! Just copy and paste from FamilySearch! They have a box at the bottom of each

record search with help for “Citing this Record.”

Example: "Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1956," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZP8-MYK: accessed 16 Jul 2014), James Rennie

Thomson, 18 Mar 1938; citing Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, certificate, State Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Records and Statistics, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm.

© 2016 Holly T. Hansen

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=virginia-mickey-thomson-piepgrass&pid=156081306&fhid=12973

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=virginia-mickey-thomson-piepgrass&pid=156081306&fhid=12973

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The Power of Marriage Documents



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The Ins and Outs of Probate for Genealogists



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U.S. Land and Tax Records: Prove Relationships



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Beginning Military Research



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Virginia: Bypassing the Burned Counties



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Southern States Research



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New England Research



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Locating Ancestors in the Old Country



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Ancestors and Immigrants from the British Isles



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