ANALYSING OUR EVIDENCE

Carol Baxter, the history detective, has spent decades working in the genealogy industry and writing true historical crime books. She often determined that previously accepted information was incorrect and, in doing so, incurred the wrath of genealogists and others who wanted their own claims to be true.

In fact, one man threatened to sue her over the conclusions she reached in her book Captain Thunderbolt and his Lady (Allen & Unwin, 2011). Her publisher's defamation lawyer asked if she could stand up in a court of law and state that her research was accurate. She said, "Absolutely!"

Carol describes her evidence analysis strategies in the books and talks listed below.

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EVIDENCE ANALYSIS BOOK

Help! How do I separate Fact from Fiction?

Most family historians are more adept at gathering information than determining if it is accurate. An error can prove disastrous, gobbling up our precious time and money as we search in the wrong place – or worse, as we pursue the wrong ancestral line. So how do we ensure that our conclusions are accurate?
Help! Historical and Genealogical Truth: How do I separate fact from fiction? is a ‘must-read’ for family history detectives wishing to accurately trace their ancestry.

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EVIDENCE ANALYSIS TALKS

HELP! How do I separate fact from fiction?

This lesson shows you how to evaluate your ancestral information – that is, how to weight each piece of information to determine its accuracy – using a clear, logical and easy-to-follow system. After learning these skills, you can easily determine which information is reliable and which is like a virus that can destroy your hard work.

Coming in 2023

What really happened to Amelia Earhart?

In 1937, the world’s most famous female aviator, Amelia Earhart, set off from New Guinea to cross the Pacific on the final leg of her world flight … and disappeared.

In this lesson, Carol analyses the claims made about Amelia's disappearance through the framework of the evidence analysis strategies communicated in the previous lesson.

Coming in 2023/24

More to come ...

WRITING STYLES

Report writing is usually considered to be a form of "expository" (or "encyclopaedia-style") writing, although some argue — justifiably — that a distinct literary style exists within the "expository" style called "analytical" writing. The essays we write at university should reflect the analytical style. Click here for a link to a helpful article on analytical writing.

For further information about the other literary styles, see the link below:

WRITING STYLES >>

EVIDENCE ANALYSIS IN ACTION

The following are a series of evidence analysis reports that Carol wrote over the years on a variety of topics:

Ancestral origins
Claims about births, marriages and deaths
Surname origins
Murder.

Note that Carol's literary style, tone and voice in these analytical reports differ to those found in her popular history books.

TRUE HISTORICAL CRIME ANALYSIS

THUNDERBOLT MYTHS >>

When Carol wrote her book Captain Thunderbolt and His Lady, she determined that many of the widely accepted claims made about the famous Australian outlaw were incorrect. She also determined that the people who felt a particular attachment to this outlaw (sometimes because of family connections but often not) had little interest in replacing fiction with fact. Accordingly, she built a Thunderbolt website in which she debunked the incorrect Thunderbolt Myths.

MARY ANN BUGG MYTHS >>

In Carol's Thunderbolt research, she also determined that many claims made about Thunderbolt's lover, Mary Ann Bugg, were incorrect.

Mary Ann was the daughter of a convict father and Aboriginal mother. Carol also discovered that many of the incorrect claims that first appeared in books and newspaper articles later slipped into Aboriginal folklore. And once they were let loose on the internet, they proved extremely difficult to eradicate.

So Carol added a Myths page for Mary Ann Bugg on her Thunderbolt website as well.

DID BILL LANCASTER SHOOT HADEN CLARKE >>

When Carol wrote The Fabulous Flying Mrs Miller, she had to determine for herself whether Bill shot Haden. As her book was written as narrative nonfiction (history told as a story), it wasn't appropriate to include her analysis in the publication. So she published a series of 20 reports on her "Carol Baxter" website in which she analysed the evidence and explained her conclusions so as to assist those interested in this celebrity American murder trial.

FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH ANALYSIS

THE DOUGLAS CONTROVERSY >>

In this report, Carol analyses the evidence connecting members of the different Douglass families in the early colony of New South Wales. Because of analysis errors, many descendants were admitted to the Fellowship of First Fleeters and later, because of Carol's research, booted out. Hell hath no fury ...!

Carol wrote The Douglas Controversy as the essay component of the Society of Australian Genealogists' Diploma in Family History Studies, which she completed in the 1980s.

ORIGIN OF SURNAME QUELCH >>

Carol was originally planning to use this Quelch surname analysis as the essay component of the previously-mentioned genealogy diploma because she had a particular interest in surnames (she majored in linguistics — the study of language, speech and hearing — at university).

She had found that the derivations provided in surname dictionaries did not tally with her own exhaustive research. So she decided to use her linguistic training to see if she could determine the surname's origin ... and succeeded.

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