Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Biblical Rule

29 September 2014

The Biblical Rule

Rule #4: The Bible is not a source for your family tree.

"I don't think we're going to decide whether or not the Bible is an accurate genealogical source on this (or any other) Facebook group. Let's move on, shall we?" - a genealogist employed by Ancestry.com

This decision does not need to be made in a Facebook group or anywhere else because there is nothing to decide. The Bible is not, and never will be, a genealogical source for your family tree. Period.
Note that I said "The Bible" and not "the family bible." A family bible can have useful information usually provided by someone who could be considered a primary or secondary source. The Bible, on the other hand, can only be considered a source for family trees limited to names mentioned in The Bible. Even then it is a derivative of a derivative of a derivative of a...
This is not a Christian vs. non-Christian thing. This is a fantasy vs. proof thing. Some of you who are looking to be offended are probably already typing your misspelled, misdirected comments before you've even finished reading this post. I have not said The Bible is fantasy. No one's religious beliefs are at issue. The fantasy is thinking that you can connect someone named in The Bible to someone not mentioned in The Bible with any certainty.
If you have ever tried to tell someone that The Bible is not a genealogical source they probably argued that The Bible is true. They have no convincing rebuttal for using The Bible as genealogical documentation which is why they will try to derail the argument onto the subject of religion. Allow them to do that and you will have lost the debate.
If you think you have connected a branch of your tree to Biblical times you should submit a paper about your documentation to a genealogical society for review and publication. I'm sure they could use a laugh.

ADDITIONAL READING from FamilySearch:
Can I trace genealogy back to Adam and Eve?
I have my family tree back to Adam and Eve

PREVIOUS POST: The Rules
NEXT POST: Yowza!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Reviews

Barking has been "deemed offensive to [Ancestry.com's] brand" and is banned from their Facebook pages. In Ancestry's "Community" comments with links to Barking are censored.
Dear Emma, Hannah, Jemima, Mary Jane, and all of her other personalities agree that I use "the banner of 'education' to actually mock, deride and laugh at [Ancestry's] own customers" and I "can make [my] point concerning tree inaccuracies & cock-ups and their effect on our 'hints' system without being downright unpleasant and sarcastic about it."
Allen says, “your cute little blog is a waste of bandwidth at best”
Ann thinks I'm "...copying and pasting mistakes on trees and calling it a blog" and that my readers are "mean-spirited people...who like to have a laugh at the expense of others."
Sue was really offended by the “...continual stream of sarcasm and constant poking fun...What a nasty taste in my mouth your blog left me with. Unpleasant, sarcastic and jeering at people who you obviously see as your intellectual inferiors. Won't be reading that again.”
And finally from Les, "You truly are a horrible woman, pointing out mistakes is one thing but blatantly laughing and taking the p is completely out of order."

Why?

Researching our family histories we are bound to make mistakes. Hopefully we are quick to correct them. Unfortunately some people refuse to read or think before adding information to their family trees. Some trees have been abandoned so the errors are there for eternity. Here we will laugh, mock and shake our heads at the carelessness, stupidity and/or ignorance of those errors.
All examples are taken from trees published online.
I'll also post tips occasionally, though the messed up trees are a great example of what NOT to do.
If you have an online tree to suggest for a future post please send me a link: buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com

The Fine Print

1. Copyright: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and is owned and administered by Loretta Gillespie.

2. Content: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is responsible for the content of this site, not including visitor comments. Barking Up the Wrong Tree reflects the personal views and opinions of Loretta Gillespie.

3. Credit: Credit is not given to tree owners to protect the clueless. A tree owner who discovers their tree on this site should correct their mistakes so no one else realizes they were once a clickophile.

4. Accuracy and Validity: While there are helpful pointers on Barking Up the Wrong Tree a majority of posts are intended to be humorous. The disastrous trees are copied exactly as they appear on Ancestry.com. These trees are being used to show others what NOT to do.

5. Images: Attempts are made to source images used despite the fact that the trees they are taken from do not include source information.

6. Comments: Barking Up the Wrong Tree will exercise its right to delete comments which are deemed to be spam, offensive, childish or just plain stupid.

7. Liability: The content at Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not to be taken as fact nor absolute. Barking Up the Wrong Tree contains posts that are humorous and posts that are research tips. Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not responsible for anyone who cannot tell the difference between the two. The sites that Barking Up the Wrong Tree links to via hyperlinks are not under its control. Those sites are responsible for the content of those sites. If you do not find the humor on Barking Up the Wrong Tree to your taste then stop reading. If you choose instead to send an email to the owner it may be published on Barking Up the Wrong Tree and mocked publicly.

Thanks to Thomas MacEntee for allowing the use of the GeneaBloggers terms as a template.