The Importance of Carefully Listening to What Family Members Tell Us and NOT Ignoring or Disregarding Anything!

How many times have we heard of a grandparent saying "Well, my Grandma told us that she came from Paris, in France" only to learn, later on, that she actually came from Quebec, in Canada, instead? Lots of us have had this happen maybe many more times than what we can count. I've been there and done that too!

Does it mean that we should disregard and ignore what family members tell us and go strictly on the 'written records' instead?-ABSOLUTELY NOT! Why? Because, at times, what our family members tell us CAN be truthful or have SOME nuggets of truth in them!

Yes, we've heard stories of how a person, over time in some cases, can wind up not remembering some things correctly and that can be expected to happen. It still will, though, behoove us to record and remember what is being told, then compare it with other records later.

For a prime example of this, let's consider what my Grandpa Ray told me about when I started

asking him lots of questions about his family in the summer of 1985:

He told me the following:

1.His father was John Luger and his grandfather was Franz Luger

2.John Luger's mother died when he was very young and Franz married a lady named Frances

3.That his(My Grandpa Ray's) mother's name was Bertha M. Klar and that when she was

very young, her father died and her mother married a man named Paschella.

Years later, in 2002, I was using vital and census records for researching and found the

following:

1.A 1900 United States Federal Census record that listed the following about about

Franz & Franziska(Frances)'s family:

1.Franz Luger was the head of the family

2.Franziska was his wife

3.Ludwig Luger, born in 1879, was the eldest son

4.John Luger, born in 1882 and my great-grandfather was the second-born son

5.Anna Luger, born in 1894, was the daughter and their last child

2.A death certificate for Ludwig Luger listing Franziska as his mother

3.A death certificate for my Great-Grandma Bertha listing Frank Paschella as her father

Later on, I got Franz and Franziska marriage record and found that they were married

in 1893 in Saint Paul, Minnesota

I'm sure that it would make sense to think that if Franziska was the mother of Ludwig,

the eldest son, that she would also be the mother of my Great-Grandpa John Luger, the

second-born son.

Surprise, Surprise, though-When researching on Ancestry in early 2023, I found a record

of my Great-Great Grandpa Franz Luger marrying, in January of 1879, to an A(Probably

Anna) Maria Eicker-It was like I was hearing what my Grandpa Ray was telling me

again! This time, I was thinking "Yes, I understand it, now!"

I was able to research again and get the CORRECT information!

I'm very glad that I didn't ignore what my Grandpa told me all those years ago because

it did have nuggets of truth and eventually led me to the right information!

Again, Is it okay, while researching, to question and wonder about what family members

tell you?-Yes it is!

Is it okay to want to compare what they tell you against written records?-Yes it is!

Is it okay to disregard and ignore what they tell you?-NEVER!! Because what they have

to tell you can be very helpful later on!

At Family History Hunter, we like to research having these principles in mind!

,