GR030926
The NSSAR Genealogy Committee, which sets policies and standards of acceptability
of evidence used to approve SAR applications, has recognized the need to embrace
modern technology. The Committee voted on September 26, 2003 to accept on a limited basis,
certain items available on the Internet or sold on CD-Rom that have been compiled
from reputable sources that would otherwise be acceptable to NSSAR as documentation.
In all cases, the submission should include any introduction from the website
which identifies the source of the data, and the full page containing the item
used by the applicant. Single line selections of data pulled from an entire listing
will not be accepted. Databases where a name is queried and the site returns
a single item related to the name entered may be accepted.
SAR will accept Internet transcriptions of a known source which would be otherwise
acceptable if the original document were in hand. Submissions will include the URL
or the source of the documentation so that the Genealogy Staff can verify the
authenticity of the data, if necessary. Any data that is no longer available,
if and when the Genealogy Staff attempts verification, will not be accepted.
Examples of items that may be considered are:
- Database transcriptions of city, county or town records that are available
on the Internet web sites will be accepted. These include, but are not limited to,
GENWEB and USGENWEB sites that host these records.
- Cemetery transcriptions where data is provided from a complete cemetery listing
of grave records online. A partial listing of a family group will not be accepted
for birth and marriage events, but may be used to verify a death date or death place.
- In cases where other information is provided, such as "son of, daughter of,
wife of, or husband of" it must be clearly evident that this information was
transcribed from the stone and is not an editorial comment by the transcriber.
In other words, the Staff must know that the information is directly from the stone,
as if they had a photograph of the stone which would otherwise be acceptable
if they had such a photograph in hand.
- Databases or transcriptions of birth, death or marriage records which
represent a town, county or state will be accepted. A partial listing of these
records that are posted for individual use by a particular family group will
not be accepted.
- Examples of accepted databases are:
- A. The Social Security Death Index, which is available at Ancestry.com,
Rootsweb.com and FamilySearch.com. These records were compiled and released
by the U. S. Government and will be accepted to verify a place and date of death,
but not as proof of lineage.
- B. The Kentucky Death Index which is available at Rootsweb and Ancestry.
This dataset was compiled and released by the State of Kentucky and is considered
a reliable source.
- C. Indiana Marriages to 1850 that is available on the website of the
State Library of Indiana.
- D. Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900 that is available on the
Illinois State Website.
- E. Listings of the Barbour Collection found on various websites listing
the complete vital records of many towns in Connecticut.
These are a few examples of items that may be considered as acceptable sources
of family documentation. Many other similar items are available. To compile a listing
of all acceptable items would be impossible to maintain. The above items are
suggestions to guide the applicant to the types of data that will be accepted.
All evidence will be considered on an individual basis, based on a common sense
evaluation of the reliability of the original source data. In the event that
the genealogy staff does not accept a submission of evidence, the applicant
may request a review by the Genealogist General. In the event the Genealogist General
does not accept an item, the submission can be appealed to the Genealogy Committee
for a recommendation to the President General who will make the ultimate final decision.
Examples of family records that NSSAR will not consider as valid documentation are:
- A. Transcriptions of any family histories found the Internet.
- B. Vital records from the International Genealogical Index or Ancestral File
found under familysearch.com.
- C. Information from World Family Tree or similar sites that accept family
trees submitted in GEDCOM format.
- D. Data from a single family website, such as "The Taylor Family Association
Website."
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