Continuing the Family History through the Alphabet series, P is
for… Proof! I had a lot of possibilities for the letter “P” such
as surnames (including my own) and town names (not to mention
the country of Poland, the source of most of my ancestors). But
what good is all the information we collect without proof? How
do we really prove our family history? Well, there’s an “app”
for that – the application of the Genealogical Proof Standard,
the measure by which one’s research is credible. The Board for
Certification of Genealogists defines the Genealogical Proof
Standard as a conclusion that contains five elements: - a
reasonably exhaustive search - complete and accurate source
citations - analysis and correlation of the collected
information - resolution of any conflicting evidence - a soundly
reasoned, coherently written conclusion A conclusion based on
all of these standards is proven, genealogically speaking. Of
course, true “proof” of who are ancestors were could really only
be obtained with genetic testin