How do we repay everyone for every scrap of information we've obtained? Sometimes, the best way is to give back. Give back information you have that your family member didn't have. Share family pictures. Share family stories. Give back.
Another way to give back is to give credit where credit is due.
In my case, I have a virtual gold mine at the tips of my finger. My mother was a tracer. I have her records. I have the pictures she acquired. I have land records. I have military records. I have a ton of information that would have taken me years to acquire by myself. My mother passed away in 1994. I can't share new information with her. I can't call her up and thank her for all the information she acquired. Or all the pictures she labeled.
What can I do? I can attribute her work when I put it in a public place. I can make sure that I give her the credit that she deserves.
Did you get information from a city, county/borough/parish, or state? Do they keep files on families that have requested information? Some of them do, some of them don't. Ask if they would like a collection of all the information you have on that surname in that area. If they do keep such collections, make copies and send it to them. You're not only paying back the information they gave you, you're also paying it forward. Even if they charge you for copies of what they sent or gave to you, you can still pay it forward and pay them back for their help.
If they're a non-profit organization, send them a donation.
Share your knowledge. Share your time. Share your information.
True genealogists are not interested in having the most information. Their interest is in having the most accurate information on everyone in their tree.
I'm on the fence about giving out "maybe" information. As we know, some will take it and run with it, never bothering to stop to see if something looks out of place. Do we keep that hidden until we can prove or disprove it? Again, each of us has to determine this for ourselves. The positive to sharing it, and labeling it as "may be true, may be false" is the more eyes who see it the higher the chance of it being proven or disproven. Too bad that only works if people are willing to question everything.
I even question everything in my gold mine that Mom acquired. I know how she worked and thought. I know how picky she was at things being true. Still, she was working with what she had available thirty and forty years ago. Each day new documents become available to us. Each new document might prove she was right. It might prove she was wrong.
The final way I can give back to my mother, is double check her work. She used to double check mine all the time. I know she wouldn't mind me double checking it against information that's been released since her death.
Go forward. Collect your data. But don't forget to give back to all your sources.
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