Do You Know, Do You Think You Know, or Are You Assuming?

All women used to die in childbirth.

It’s not a true statement, but it is similar to other statements about “history” that one sees floating around various genealogy discussion forums. It is similar to statements such as:

• in the 1800s everyone got married by the time they were twenty
• in the 1700s no one lived past the age of forty
• the youngest son always stayed home to help the parents
• etc.

Obviously some people got married before they were twenty, some individuals died before the age of forty, and there were times when the youngest son was the one who stayed home to help the parents. But because something happened sometimes does not mean it happened all the time. If you hear one of these generalizations being made, ask yourself–how is this known? Is it based upon some evidence from a variety of situations or families. Sometimes these statements are made because someone noticed it a few times or saw that it tended to happen in their own families. Those occurrences would be probably be considered anecdotal and may not apply to the population at large.

If we are not careful we can think our family is typical in ways that they are not and think they are unique in ways that they are not. That’s one reason why it’s beneficial to occasionally research a family other than our own. It can broaden our research experience, strengthen our research skills, and give us some perspective.

My ethnic German great-grandparents (children of German-born immigrants) did not drink beer for reasons of which I am only partially aware. Here’s my conclusion:

Germans don’t drink beer.

After all, mine did not and it’s reasonable to take a conclusion about my family and extrapolate to a larger population.

No it’s not. My experience is anecdotal. Saying it is anecdotal does not invalidate it. Saying it is anecdotal just means that I can’t use their experience or lifestyle to draw conclusions about the experiences or lifestyle of the larger ethnic group.

Think about how you know what you know.

It may be that you are entirely correct.

Or it may be that you are aggravating your genealogy brick wall.

You won’t know if you don’t ask.