Primary source15 people in this family
Verified against original documents: birth/marriage/death certificates, census records, headstones, wills, primary tax rolls.
In practice: Original civil records (birth, marriage, and death certificates), federal and state census schedules, headstone photos and cemetery records, wills and probate files, primary tax rolls, deed books, original-issue military service files, parish registers, ship passenger manifests, and any other government or church document created at the time of the event. Also includes verified DAR, SAR, and Mayflower lineage papers that have been checked against original sources.
Verified secondary8 people in this family
Verified against two or more credible published scholarly sources or a primary record plus an independent corroboration.
In practice: Multiple published scholarly genealogies that agree on the same facts; peer-reviewed historical journals such as the William and Mary College Quarterly or the NEHGS Register; county and town histories written from primary materials; reputable encyclopedic biographies of widely-documented historical figures. A single primary record plus an independent published corroboration also reaches this tier.
Partial verification0 people in this family
Single scholarly source, or multiple cross-referencing user trees. Suggestive but not fully documented.
In practice: One credible secondary source on its own, or multiple user-submitted family trees that agree but lack underlying records. Suggestive but not yet documented.
Single user tree9 people in this family
Single user-submitted tree, family memory, or undocumented assertion. Preserved for continuity but not independently verified.
In practice: A single user-submitted family tree on FamilySearch, WikiTree, Geni, or similar, with no underlying records attached. Or a direct family-memory account from a living relative. Preserved for tree continuity but not independently verified.
Family tradition only0 people in this family
Family tradition or speculative chain with no documentary support. Records explicitly noted as unverified.
In practice: Family tradition or speculative noble-line claims with no documentary support and where absence of documentary trace is itself suspect. These entries are explicitly flagged so visitors can see they are unverified.
How a tier can be upgraded.
A partial entry rises to verified-secondary when a second independent credible source corroborates it. A verified-secondary entry rises to verified-primary when the original document (birth certificate, census schedule, headstone, will) is located and cited. The research path is the same for any family: FamilySearch first, WikiTree and Geni for cross-verification, Find a Grave for burial confirmation, state archives for civil records, then the published scholarly genealogies for the colonial and pre-colonial generations.
When primary records require travel or paid records (Scottish OPR records at ScotlandsPeople, DAR Record Copies, state Vital Records), we surface the gap and let the family decide whether to pursue it.