Hi,

This has probably been discussed a lot before, but was wondering if Visitation of England and Wales by Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902; Crisp, Frederick Arthur, 1851-1922; College of Arms (Great Britain) is a reliable source?

Thanks in advance.

Sjana Bauer

On Friday, September 15, 2023 at 9:44:26 AM UTC-7, Sjana Bauer wrote:
> Hi,
>
> This has probably been discussed a lot before, but was wondering if Visitation of England and Wales by Howard, Joseph Jackson, 1827-1902; Crisp, Frederick Arthur, 1851-1922; College of Arms (Great Britain) is a reliable source?
>

'Reliable' is kind of a slippery concept. In this case, just taking a look at the first pedigree, we deduce that it was based on information provided by John Bradney, b. 1842, and by his first-cousin Joseph Alfred Bradney, and is reporting data back to their grandfather and down to their children, nieces and nephews. As such, this pedigree would be as reliable as you would expect someone naming their immediate family to be, with the benefit that it combines the knowledge of two cousins. The second pedigree is again given by the grandson of the first person named. As a general rule, the farther away from the information provider it gets, the less reliable it can be presumed to be, but one generally trusts people giving information about their immediate family (with the standard caveat of human fallibility on the part of the information provider, the editors and the type-setters). In addition, the editors have a reputation for being generally competent. If all 21 volumes are similar, then I would think this is likely to be quite accurate. What you have to watch out for are pedigrees written in this time giving information about earlier generations - say, the early 18th century and before - the farther removed from the person providing the information, the less it can be assumed to be accurate.

taf