NOTES on GEDCOM
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The gedcom is very incomplete and is under chronic construction, especially as far as citations are concerned. Information is being added as it, and time, are available.
I have included quite a few people for whom I do not have primary documentation. I have tried to be very careful about choosing which secondary documentation to accept, and which web sites to rely on. Some people obviously believe anything they read, or believe what they wish to believe. I have tried to avoid those people and communicate with people who take a serious (if amateur, like myself) interest in finding the truth. A good example of how hard it can be to find the truth, or something approaching the truth, is the story of Thomas Bayley and Bloody Brook.
Bloody Brook was a battle that took place in 1675, during King Philip's War. Many colonial militia lost their lives, including a Thomas Bayley. When I first found Thomas Bayley and Lydia Redfield, virtually everybody I went to said he died at Bloody Brook. I was very excited to hear this. But then I began to read some things that suggested Lydia's Thomas was the wrong Thomas Bayley. I studied the issue for some time. Then I went to Donna Beers, who has been studying Baileys for years. She e-mailed some primary documentation showing wages for Bloody Brook Thomas were sent to Weymouth, MA, not New London, CT. For me, that settled the issue. I could not see any reason why Thomas Bayley, husband and father from CT would have his wages sent to MA. Lydia obviously could not just drive to Weymouth and pick them up. Travel was dangerous and tedious under the best of circumstances in the 17th century; it was life-threatening in the American colonies. I have tried to suggest to some people, who insist Bloody Brook Thomas was Lydia's Thomas, that they reconsider, but they won't have it. There is objective fact, and there is what people want to believe. The truth is not always possible to find, but we should never stop seeking it.
So, to the extent I can I seek the truth. Of course, without primary documentation things are that much more liable to error, so take what you read with a grain of salt. At the same time rest assured I am very serious about doing this right. HOWEVER, DO NOT TAKE ANYTHING IN THIS GEDCOM AS FACT UNLESS IT IS PROPERLY DOCUMENTED. Everything else is just clues.
There are many people interested in these ancestral lines. Some who have been a big help to me are Fran Miller and:
DAWN WINANS' HOME PAGE
DONNA BEERS' BAILEY SITE
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