Proved
A direct record states the relationship, or independent records converge without a reasonable competing identity.
Method and privacy
A limit is a finding
This project separates event proof, identity, relationship, and migration. It also separates permission to inspect a record from permission to republish it.
Proof vocabulary
Seven labels keep confidence from becoming camouflage.
Strong indirect evidence
Several facts support one relationship, but the record set lacks a direct statement.
Identified but not closed
A direct source names the relationship, while record distance or conflict still requires corroboration.
Working hypothesis
The proposal is plausible and research-worthy, but it does not belong in the fact narrative.
Conflict
Two or more pieces of evidence cannot yet be harmonized. Both remain visible.
Negative control
A record identifies the wrong person or cluster clearly enough to prevent a merge.
Open boundary
The present evidence stops. The next source must be capable of stating or compelling the missing relationship.
Evidence discipline
The source says what it says—not what the tree needs.
Event is not identity
A baptism can prove a child at a place and date without proving every adult life later assigned to that child.
Household is not kinship
Pre-1880 federal censuses place people together but do not state relationships to the household head.
Association is not descent
Neighbors, sureties, co-heirs, and soldiers can control identity without becoming parents or children.
Search failure is not absence
A negative carries weight only when collection coverage, variants, dates, and the searcher's ability are known.
Privacy and stewardship
The public paper is a carrier, not the archive.
Living-person names and exact details are omitted. Repository correspondence, credentials, session metadata, and internal storage paths are not published. Restricted source images remain private even when the paper cites the record.
Source of truth. Originals, transcripts, manifests, checksums, source notes, matrices, and review records remain in the preserved research corpus. This site interprets that material; it does not replace it.