Below is my response to Will's helpful comment.
Gordon
-----Original Message-----
From: Gordon Kirkemo [mailto:kirkemo@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 9:59 PM
To: WJhonson@aol.com
Subject: RE: Edward Farmer: Proposed GARD
Will,
Thanks for your feedback. You will note that a number of the sources can be
considered secondary. I believe, however, that the information is still
good despite this. If you, or anyone has specific information that disputes
this, then I'm very interested to know what that might be.
Regarding your specific comment, you might want to actually check the source
directly. The "Memoir" is part of a larger article honoring John Farmer who
is considered by many to be "the Father of Genealogy in New England." To
give some emphasis to the point, this is from the first article in the first
ever volume to the NEHGS Register. I believe the Register has a generally
solid reputation, and the honor extended to Mr. Farmer and his family should
help alleviate your concern.
I do appreciate you reading my post, and I look forward to other comments.
Sincerely,
Gordon
-----Original Message-----
From: WJhonson@aol.com [mailto:WJhonson@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, November 22, 2004 9:40 PM
To: GEN-MEDIEVAL-L@rootsweb.com
Subject: Re: Edward Farmer: Proposed GARD
In a message dated 11/22/2004 9:32:01 PM Pacific Standard Time,
kirkemo@comcast.net writes:
(2) "Genealogical Memoir of the Farmer Family" by Samuel Drake, published
in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 1.
Are you quite sure this source is reliable. I note that it was originally
published in 1847 and reprinted in 1992 without modification. Not that
works
from 1847 were all shoddy, but it is really only a secondary or tertiary
source.
Many works of this time period did not fully document THEIR sources and so
are of limited value.
In addition an article called "Memoir of the ... family" strikes me as
possible being a collection of family legends interspersed with a few
possible
facts. I see this source as a possible weak point in your thesis. Just my
opinion.
Will Johnson