My Theory of Relativity

…Or, What is Relative When Talking About Relatives.

I am working on a series currently for DownsGenealogy.com on the ancestors of Thankful Doane Smith. She was the granddaughter of Rachel Doane, but Rachel’s parentage does not seem to be recorded anywhere. This has hounded researchers for quite some time. When searching indexes in journals and bulletin boards we often find the question posed, but never the answer.

I think I may have this mystery finally solved, but right now it is just a theory. My case for the solution is entirely circumstantial and not on very firm ground. But I have no contradictory or problem loose ends either. It’s neat, attractive, and any other solution I’ve held up next to it has quickly crumbled. I am currently looking for further evidence to support this theory and at the same time, trying to find disproof of it. Both items do not seem to be coming forward at this time.

My quandary is thus: at what point do I publish my theory? Do I publish it now? The advantages of publishing it are that others can help in proving, or disproving it. Maybe someone has been working on this problem and has more, or different, information than I do. Others can also share opinions or point out faults in my logic.

There is a considerable downside to publishing a theory. It is often taken as fact and used by others in there work. Often there is no notation that this is just someone else’s working theory. It is common to see it uploaded as part of family trees on sites like Ancestry.com or a similar place. As others find it, they incorporate into their own family trees they are working on and soon there are more cases on the web of the material as fact than the truth that it is just a possibility. What is a novice researcher to do in this situation? Does he believe the many, or does he listen to the one or two, if he even finds them, who are telling the truth?

So, do I publish my theory about my relatives, or not?