{"id":11091,"date":"2025-12-27T14:27:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T14:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/?p=11091"},"modified":"2025-12-29T17:03:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T17:03:49","slug":"now-on-youtube-an-update-of-the-now-seventeen-rules-of-genealogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/now-on-youtube-an-update-of-the-now-seventeen-rules-of-genealogy\/","title":{"rendered":"An Update of the Now Seventeen Rules of Genealogy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Note<\/em>: This article appeared previously on the Genealogy&#8217;s Star blog site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"An Update of the Now Seventeen Rules of Genealogy \u2013 James Tanner (17 December 2025)\" width=\"680\" height=\"383\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mDIGO80_xCM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The recent BYU Library Family History Center webinar &#8220;An Update of the Now Seventeen Rules of Genealogy&#8221; is also available on YouTube &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mDIGO80_xCM\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/mDIGO80_xCM<\/a>. Here is a summary of the YouTube video.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This presentation, delivered by James Tanner at the BYU Library Family History Center, provides a vital &#8220;reality check&#8221; for genealogists. Tanner, drawing on over 43 years of experience and a background in law, outlines 17 fundamental rules designed to act as &#8220;guardrails&#8221; against the common pitfalls of genealogical research [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=149\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">02:29<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Below is a summary of these rules, categorized by their underlying principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Physical Reality of Life<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>These rules focus on the biological and logical constraints that must govern your research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rule 1: The Mother was There:<\/strong>&nbsp;A mother cannot give birth in two places at once or after her death. If a record suggests otherwise, the record is wrong [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">04:13<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 2: Absence of Evidence is Not Evidence of Absence:<\/strong>&nbsp;The lack of a death record or obituary does not mean a person is still alive. Many deaths simply went unrecorded [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">05:57<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 3: Unique Identity:<\/strong>&nbsp;Every person has a unique birth order and biological parents. Differentiate between people with the same name by looking at their &#8220;FAN&#8221; club\u2014family, associates, and neighbors [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=469\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">07:49<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 14: You&#8217;re Not Responsible for Your Ancestors:<\/strong>&nbsp;You are a recorder of history. You will find ancestors who were criminals or slave owners; your job is to observe and record, not to hide the truth [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=3205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">53:25<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Nature of Historical Records<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Understanding how records were created and where they are kept is half the battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rule 4: There are Always More Records:<\/strong>&nbsp;Most researchers stop at birth, marriage, death, and census records. Tanner emphasizes that land, tax, court, and church records often hold the answers [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=606\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10:06<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 6: Records Migrate:<\/strong>&nbsp;Records rarely stay where the event happened. They move to county seats, state archives, or digital servers. Boundary changes (like those in Pennsylvania) often mean your ancestor\u2019s records &#8220;moved&#8221; even if they never did [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=866\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">14:26<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 17: Where Life Happened, Records Remained:<\/strong>&nbsp;If people lived in an area, they left a trail. To find it, you must identify who had the authority to record events at that specific time and place [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=1104\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">18:24<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 16: Gravity Always Wins:<\/strong>&nbsp;Physical deterioration from fire, flood, mold, and pests is a reality. Some records are simply lost forever [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=3245\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">54:05<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Logic of Genealogical Information<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rule 7: Information Flows Downhill (Entropy):<\/strong>&nbsp;It is significantly easier to trace descendants forward in time than to trace ancestors backward. Records become scarcer and more fragile the further back you go [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=1250\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">20:50<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 8: Everything is Connected:<\/strong>&nbsp;Unexpected sources, like cattle brands or property marks, can provide proof of identity or inheritance because they were legal assets [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=1544\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">25:44<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 9: Patterns Everywhere:<\/strong>&nbsp;Use naming patterns (e.g., naming the eldest son after the paternal grandfather) and migration patterns to predict where an ancestor might have gone [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=1690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">28:10<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 10: Read the Fine Print:<\/strong>&nbsp;Don&#8217;t just look for names. Witnesses on deeds and marginal notes in church registers often hold the key to a &#8220;brick wall&#8221; [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=2078\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">34:38<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Verification and Truth<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Rule 11: Match is Not Identity:<\/strong>&nbsp;Just because a name, date, and place match your expectation doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s your ancestor. Coincidences are frequent in history [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=2252\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">37:32<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 15: It&#8217;s Not a Fact Without a Record:<\/strong>&nbsp;Do not trust unsourced online trees or compiled books. Without a contemporaneous record, a lineage is just a theory [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=2477\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">41:17<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 12: The End is Always There:<\/strong>&nbsp;Every lineage eventually ends where records cease to exist. Tanner warns against fabricating lines back to Adam or ancient royalty [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=2762\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">46:02<\/a>].<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rule 13: Don&#8217;t Just Fill Blank Spaces:<\/strong>&nbsp;Genealogists are &#8220;collectors&#8221; by nature, but you should never add a name just to complete a fan chart or pedigree [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=mDIGO80_xCM&amp;t=2969\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">49:29<\/a>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tanner concludes that while technology like DNA and AI has changed the field, these core principles remain the same [55:47]. He recommends resources like his blog, Genealogy Star, and The Family History Guide for further study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Video Link:<\/strong>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=https:\/\/youtu.be\/mDIGO80_xCM\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/mDIGO80_xCM<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note: This article appeared previously on the Genealogy&#8217;s Star blog site. The recent BYU Library Family History Center webinar &#8220;An Update of the Now Seventeen Rules of Genealogy&#8221; is also available on YouTube &#8211; https:\/\/youtu.be\/mDIGO80_xCM. Here is a summary of the YouTube video.\u00a0 This presentation, delivered by James Tanner at the BYU Library Family History Center, provides a vital &#8220;reality&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11093,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,356,397],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-country-research","category-research","category-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11091"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11096,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11091\/revisions\/11096"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}