 |
| The Yoakum Book Issues The genealogical book titled Jachim, Joachim, Jochems, Yoakum, Yocom, Yocum, Yokum and Allied Families by H. C. Smith, PhD. was copywritten in 1963, publisher unlisted. Dr. Smith was the author of a pamphlet about the Stout Family, 1940; and several other works, including The Reams, Reams Family and Allied Families, 1955 and The Darnall, Darnell Family and Allied Families, 1956. A little bit about Dr. Smith Harry Clyde Smith was born 28 December 1875 in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He was the son of Jasper Smith (1854-1940) and Deborah JAne (Stout) 1855-1918. Harry Clyde (H.C.) married Bertie Isabel (Wilson) 5 November 1877-3 August 1950) in 1 December 1909. H.C. was a graduate of the Ecolectic Medical Institute in Cincinatti, Ohio in 1899, next graduating from the Medical Department of Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska in 1901. In 1917, he enlisted in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army. He received a honorable discharge at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1953 and turned to his favorite hobby, genealogy. Between his retirement and time of his death (which I currently am assuming, though I do not know this to be a fact.) H.C. wrote, traveled and read materials related to genealogy and published the above mentioned books. I believe it's important to note that 1. Dr. Smith was doing genealogy the "old fashioned" way that is unfamiliar to many people in this day and age of instant or nearly immediate access to reasonably accurate information. 2. Reporting the results of searching for information in this type of research can be hazardous~ family misunderstanding of their own line, personal misunderstanding, personal bias, incorrect information that has been perpetrated for so long that it's now impossible to tell it from the truth, etc. can all contribute to the misinformation of generations of family. And a bit more about the book In my repeated reading of H.C. Smith's book over the last few years, I have noted several things that are important to mention. 1. This book was written by a mortal. Mortals are known to make mistakes. Assume he did so as well. In fact, H.C. has my personal line of descent incorrect for several generations, up to--and including--my mother. 2. He is not wrong about everything! In fact, considering the amount of time, energy, money, travel, etc., Dr. Smith did a good job with the "Y" book. If he had the tremendous advantages that we have today, he would likely had written an even more accurate book. He gave fellow researchers/descendents the first fairly comprehensive, fairly accurate resource for this family of which we are all so very proud . We can build on the foundation of the work he did, without bashing the entire resource out of hand. 3. He included all of his sources, but allowed his personal bias to influence the "guess work" that happens at times during the process of research. And all genealogical works are a process. In a few instances, he let his imagination run away with him--ignoring the facts because they didn't fit in to what he thought he saw. If the logical arguments of many notable Yoakum researchers who followed in his steps were available to Dr. Smith, there's a strong possibility that he would have changed his opinion. We all might benefit from remembering that the "tweaking" that comes with research is an inherent quality of what we are doing. I have been deeply influenced by the work of the genealogists who have discounted portions or all of H.C. Smith's Yoakum (any way you spell it) book due to errors in several lines. They provided me with the scepticism to be wary of the potential mistakes in the Yoakum book. I have seen many of them--and yet I remain impressed with the quality of the book overall. He did a marvelous job if we keep the time of this work, etc. in perspective. I am currently researching the legalities of transcribing all or part of the book online. If you have any questions, please let me know. I also am the rootsweb Yoakum-L Administrator, and can be reached there as well as through my email, snail mail, etc. Good luck in your research! |
 |
 |
 |
| Genealogy Page |