To Steal Ideas From One Person Is Pagiarism; To Steal From Many Is Research

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 48 (THIEF)

Genealogy research is everywhere now. All you need is a computer, a few details, a little curiosity, lots of time, and a bundle of cash is helpful.

There are many places online to post your tree, and research. A simple search will find a multitude of family trees just waiting to be harvested.

There are two problems with this.

The first is that there is no way for anyone to know for sure the tree found online is accurate.

The second is whether it's ethical to just take someone else's work and make it your own.  Is it really any different than finding an obituary, and using the details to add to your tree?  How about the information pulled from social media sites where folks have lax privacy settings?

Recently I stumbled upon the quote:
“To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research.”


It got me thinking about what genealogical plagiarism really is. 


BUT first the quote itself seems to have been plagiarized since a variety of similar ways it's attributed to several people:

"When you take stuff from one writer it's plagiarism; but when you take it from many writers, it's research."   ~Wilson Mizner 1938.

"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism - to steal from many is research."    ~Steven Wright.

"If you steal from one person it’s plagiarism: if you steal from three persons it’s research.”   ~Joseph Cummings Chase 1938.

“If you wrote a paper and quoted without credit from a single book, it would be plagiarism; but if you quoted from three or four, it would be research.”       ~Word Study, a periodical from G. & C. Merriam Company which is best known for publishing the Merriam-Webster dictionaries. Dec 1938.

“Just remember,” says he, “if you steal from one man, it’s plagiarism. If you steal from several, it’s research.”   ~Bob Oliver 1941.

 if you steal from two sources, you are providing documentation; and if you steal from three or more sources, it is–presto–”original research.”    ~Los Angeles Times 1974.

"If you steal from one author, it's plagiarism. If you steal from two, it's research."     ~John McDonald Burke,   Bogue's Progress: The Fabulous Adventures of Wilson Mizner chapter 9, p. 167 (1975).

"Wilson Mizner? Steven Wright? Wallace Notestein? Ralph Foss? Joseph Cummings Chase? Asa George Baker? Leslie Henson? Tom Lehrer? Bob Oliver? Anonymous?
....In conclusion, based on the 1929 citation Wallace Notestein is the leading candidate for authorship of this quip. "1 


It appears as though the original quote was:
“If you copy from one book, that's plagiarism; if you copy from many books, that's research.” - Wallace Notestein, 1929

The surge in Genealogy websites, and sources seems to have resulted from the ease that average folks can research. With a fee for accessing original source documents anyone with some spare money can track back on their family lines many many generations. Anyone with access to those trees can add details without paying their own fee.


Recently I was looking at THRULINES on Ancestry. It showed that I was able to confirm a few more generations back via a couple of new member matches. When I went to check their trees I discovered that the only source they had in their tree was my tree. I knew it was my tree because they had a DNA symbol for their person's profile photo. 

That DNA symbol was an original one I created to track a particular line on my tree. I can't really use the two new matches as a source since their source was me. 


Do I feel plagiarized?  


Not at all. 


I put my research out there to share. I would hope anyone who is connected to me would use what I have posted since I plan to glean from them what they know too. 




You can't steal shared family history!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***





Footnotes:

1 If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It’s Research, Quote Investigator, Retrieved November 29th 2019 from 
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/20/plagiarism/



Sources:

If You Steal From One Author, It’s Plagiarism; If You Steal From Many, It’s Research, Quote Investigator, Retrieved November 29th 2019 from
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/09/20/plagiarism/

Research and plagiarism. What is the difference? CosmosQuest Forum, Retrieved November 29th  2019 from
https://forum.cosmoquest.org/archive/index.php/t-137117.html






Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

_____________________________________________________________________

Military Records ~ Things To Know & Things Best Left Unknown

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 47 (SOLDIER)



It all begins with a family story you hear growing up. Or maybe you ask Grandma about relatives as Remembrance Day approaches. Or maybe you discover Grandpa fought in the war. Or maybe you find a package with war medals. Or maybe you find out a  relative died for your freedom. 


Researching military records can be exciting. 


When I was growing up I was fascinated by the swastika stamped release papers my grandfather had received after being a Belgian Prisoner of World War II. I learned what the acronym POW was at a very young age. I also knew Grandpa wouldn't talk about his experience. He did share the Belgian prisoners weren't treated as badly as the Jewish people because they were seen as good farmers so were put to work in the fields. He shared that he and his fellow farmers could eat dirty uncooked potatoes if they were careful to not be seen so weren't as hungry as others in the camp. On the day they were released he and his Belgian comrades accepted the boots for their long walk home. They accepted nothing else from their captors. Later when I was researching the Holocaust I often viewed through the lens of what little of Grandpa's experience I knew. 

*my step-dad's father

Frans & Emma Boogemans

Shortly before turning 50 my Ancestry DNA results showed one of my great grandparents was European Jewish. 

Everything that I thought I understood about the Holocaust shifted. 


Now it was personal. 


My great grandfather was a guard at the Kananaskis Prisoner of War Camp during WWII. During WWI Thomas was with the 8th Battalion, Royal Scots. 


*my dad's mother's father

Private Thomas Thomson, Veterans Guard of Canada
with X1 & X2 great granddaughters

Private Thomas Thomson, Veterans Guard of Canada, born May 10th 1880 in North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland and died November 19th 1940 in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada. He's buried at the Burnsland Cemetery in Calgary. 

We Remember!

My maternal grandmother's family lost two members of the family 15 days apart on the battlefields in France.


Harry Dendy born November 24th 1874 in Balham, Surrey, England, and died December 5th 1916 in France.


Frederick Herbert Dendy born January 26th 1896 in Wandsworth, London, England, and died November 19th 1916 in France.


Both were born in England, but fought for the Canadian Military after immigrating to Canada.


*my mom's mother' side, her uncle and great uncle

My father is retired career military. He was a Peacekeeper in Cyprus in 1965.

my dad, early 1970s

 I was born on a military base in Quebec, and started school on a military base in Alberta. I believed that Santa arrived on a helicopter since that is how he arrived to every Christmas party I went to before starting school and learning differently. 

Dad with my brother and myself

If you are searching for information on anyone who served in the Canadian Military  Library and Archives Canada is a fantastic resource.


The instructions on this website have examples of how to search the Library & Archives Canada website. You will also find many other articles.
http://regimentalrogue.com/misc/researching_first_world_war_soldiers_part1.htm




*****A cautionary tale*****

Searching military records is not for the faint at heart. 

You may discover things about your relatives that you honestly didn't want to know. 

Finding his military medical record online I now know that my 

 X    grandfather's publicly available military medical record notes that he had:

wound, abscess, swollen glands, syphilis, 

gonorrhea X2, and X2 ulcers on his penis 

This relative was 18 years old, single, and married my X__ grandmother 8 years later. 



My exact relationship to this ancestor is redacted to protect his reputation and anyone who adored him and may still be living. 



The things you can't unknow, now that you know!






This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***








Sources:

Dendy, Frederick Herbert, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from 
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1567107/dendy,-frederick-herbert/

Dendy, Harry, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/27659/dendy,-/

Military Heritage, Library and Archives Canada, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from 
http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx

The Regimental Rogue, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from 
http://regimentalrogue.com/

Researching Canadian Soldiers of the First World War, Michael O'Leary; The Regimental Rogue, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from
http://regimentalrogue.com/misc/researching_first_world_war_soldiers_part1.htm

Thomson, Thomas, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Retrieved November 23rd 2019 from  https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2849835/thomson,-thomas/



Links:


Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

_____________________________________________________________________

Irish Potato Famine ~ John Concannon

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 46 (POOR MAN)



The Irish Potato Famine was also referred to as the Great Famine and the Great Hunger.  The blame for what happened to the Irish people is more complicated, but the the primary cause of the famine was a potato blight that wiped out the crops that had been feeding the Irish people. The result was about a million people died of hunger and disease. Between 1946 and 1951 about 2 million people left Ireland in search of a new home.


I grew up knowing the stories and hardship of my hungry ancestors who left Ireland with dreams of prosperity in the New World. I knew that I came from a long line of strong Irish people who decided to leave everything they knew to create a new life. 


My X3 great grandfather, John Concannon arrived via ship in New York in 1851. He was 20 years old. He arrived alone. No other family members were on the ship with him. He must have been very poor in Ireland, and remained poor for at least the beginning of his life in the United States.

In 1951 John Concannon arrived in the United States, ultimately settling in Iowa.  He was born in Ireland in 1831, and died October 14th 1918 in Churdan, Greene County, Iowa, USA. My primary source for John Concannon is Find-a-Grave where I found a record of his grave with his wife and daughter. I searched for more information that matched the details from his grave. 

I don't know if I have the correct information. I do know that although I grew up believing John Concannon to be my 3rd great-grandfather I now know his son is not my biological X2 great grandfather. I struggle with how far to research this family line. Ancestry DNA showed that my great grandmother's birth was a NPE (non-parental event). The expected father (her mom's husband) was not her father. Do I keep researching this line? Do I keep tugging on the DNA matching lines? Do I keep them both in one tree?  


What I do know is that when my DNA results first arrived I put away my KISS ME I'M IRISH pin feeling like I was solidly in the realm of cultural appropriation. In the time since I have returned to dressing up for St. Patrick's Day with my pin in place. My pride in the Irish people, and my relation to them didn't change. Cannon is on my great grandmother's birth certificate. By birth or by blood. I will never know the true story. 





Surprise DNA results creating genealogical conundrums!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***






Sources:

Ancestry.ca, Retrieved November 16th 2019

The Great Irish Famine 1845-1851 – A Brief Overview, John Dorney, The Irish Story, Retrieved November 16th 2019 from 
https://www.theirishstory.com/2016/10/18/the-great-irish-famine-1845-1851-a-brief-overview/#.XdC9cVdKjyQ

The Irish Famine, Jim Donnelly, History, BBC, Retrieved November 16th 2019 from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_01.shtml

John Concannon, Find A Grave, Retrieved November 16th 2019 from
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/88860406



Links:
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

_____________________________________________________________________

J.P. Morgan ~ My Cousin's International Banking Is Too Confusing

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 45 (RICH MAN)


When I was growing up I was often heard saying that my real parents were searching for me, and they were rich. It was a joke. I never believed I was related to anyone who was rich. 


To be honest I don't think I would have liked living a rich lifestyle. I am a fairly simple person. I don't often want things. It's only when I do decide I want something that I realize I have expensive tastes. Likely that is why, while growing up I, often thought I was a rich person trapped in a poor person's life. As an adult my husband and I are comfortable. We have enough for extras which is nice since the essentials take care of themselves. 


This week's RICH MAN prompt got me thinking maybe my relatives really were rich even if they were never actually looking for me.


Searching through FAMOUSKIN.COM I found that I am the 8th cousin 3X removed of the very wealthy John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan.  


Using my *how are you related chart* I discovered that 8th cousins are too distant to be included. After entering J.P. Morgan's details into my family tree I confirmed that my 10th great grandparents are his 7th great grandparents. We are 3 generations apart (10th and 7th) hence 3X removed, and they are his 7th great grandparents hence 8th cousins.

Our in common ancestors are:
Thomas Ford
BIRTH 1587 • Bridport, Dorset, England
DEATH 9 NOV 1676 • Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America
married to
Elizabeth Charde
BIRTH 1589 • Thorncombe, Bridgeport, Dorsetshire, England
DEATH 18 APR 1643 • Windsor, Hartford, Colony of Connecticut, British Colonial America


I descend via their daughter Hepzibah, and J.P. through their daughter Abigail. 

***For anyone who has read previous blogs this is the same family line
that I am related to Princess Diana and other prominent folks.

John Pierpont Morgan was my great grandfather's 8th cousin. They shared the same 7th great grandparents. Grampsy through his dad, and JP through his mom. 

My great grandfather Ernest Elmer Bayes (known as Hap)
J.P. Morgan's 8th cousin

In the photo I think I can see a smidge of resemblance. 

J.P. Morgan,
photo source:Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository,

Below are a  2nd and 3rd look - look carefully. Can you see any resemblance?

My great grandfather Ernest Elmer Bayes (known as Hap)

I realized that I did recognize the name JP Morgan as a wealthy man, but knew nothing about him as a person or his career. Since he's my cousin I decided I should know a little about him.

Introducing my 8th cousin 3X removed
John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan
BIRTH 17 APR 1837 • Hartford, Connecticut, USA
DEATH 31 MAR 1913 • Rome, Italy

He was born into a prominent well to do family in Hartford, Connecticut, United States of America on April 17th 1837.

 His parents were:
Junius Spencer Morgan
BIRTH 14 APR 1813 • Massachusetts, United States of America
DEATH 8 APR 1890 • Monte Carlo, Monaco
and
Juliet Pierpont
BIRTH 30 JUL 1816 • Baltimore, Baltimore City, Maryland, USA
DEATH 23 FEB 1884 • City of London, Greater London, England

He had 2 sisters and a brother.

In 1861 he married his first wife. Amelia (Mimi) Sturges
BIRTH 5 JUL 1835 • Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States of America
DEATH 17 FEB 1862 • Nice, Departement des Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
She passed away a year later at the age of 26.
They had no children


In 1865 JP married his 2nd wife:
Frances Louise (Fanny) Tracy
BIRTH 15 MAY 1845 • New York, New York, USA
DEATH 16 NOV 1924 • Highland Falls, Orange, New York, USA
They had 3 daughters and a son.


In researching the career of JP Morgan I realized that I have no understanding of international banking. This portion of the blog is finished.


When he died some of his art collection was donated to The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Wadsworth Atheneum.   He was a philanthropist who supported many charities in his lifetime. 


BUT maybe he doesn't fit for my RICH MAN prompt according to John D. Rockefeller's opinion:
"When he died in 1913 at the age of 75, it was revealed that he was worth around $80 million — according to legend, John D. Rockefeller remarked, "And to think he wasn't even a rich man!" upon reading the figure, according to Jean Strouse's article for the New York Times." {1}


In search of rich relatives!







This is why I search - 



Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
















***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***






Footnotes:


{1} 6 memorable leadership lessons from the financial giant J.P. Morgan, Áine Cain, Business Insider, Oct 17, 2016, Retrieved November 9th 2019 from
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-you-can-learn-from-jp-morgan-2016-10




Sources:


Famous Kin, Retrieved November 9th 2019 from
https://famouskin.com/

J.P. Morgan, AMERICAN FINANCIER, WRITTEN BY: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica retrieved November 9th 2019 from 
https://www.britannica.com/biography/J-P-Morgan

J.P. Morgan Biography, Art Collector, Philanthropist (1837–1913), Biography.com. Retrieved November 9th 2019 from
https://www.biography.com/business-figure/jp-morgan

J.P. Morgan, HISTORY.COM EDITORS, UPDATED:JUN 7, 2019ORIGINAL:NOV 9, 2009, Retrieved Novembe 9th 2019 from
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/john-pierpont-morgan

Photo,  Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, retrieved November 9th from
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:J.P._Morgan_cph.3a02120.jpg

6 memorable leadership lessons from the financial giant J.P. Morgan, Áine Cain, Business Insider, Oct 17, 2016, Retrieved November 9th 2019 from 
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-you-can-learn-from-jp-morgan-2016-10




Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/

If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please

include a link to the specific blog and

credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/

My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.

All rights reserved.

Please & Thank you!

_____________________________________________________________________