The following is an example of the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) in operation in respect to the question, who was the father of Bennet Rose?  Was it another, slightly older contemporary named Abner Rose?  The example comes from a short book entitled Genealogical Proof Standard:  Building a Solid Case written by one of the leading genealogists in America, Christine Rose.  [The names suggest that this derives from research she did into her own family!]

BENNET ROSE (ACTUAL CASE]

No known record identifies the father of Bennet Rose, who was born about 1788 according to census data (3) and an affidavit he made when he applied for military bounty land at the age Of Sixty-two. (4) Bennet first appears on record in Warren County, Tennessee, in 1814, the year he enlisted in the War of 1812. He obtained land in Lauder­dale County, Alabama in 1818; (5) and in January 1819 he married Nancy Burney in that county. (6) The 1820 federal census of Lauderdale, where one might expect to find him, is missing. He does appear on Lauderdale’s 1830 enumeration. (7) In 1837 he bought another tract in adjoin­ing Limestone County (8) and is listed there in the 1840 and 1850 censuses. (9) He died, according to the family Bible, on 3 January 1852. (10) His children, based on a number of reliable records, were Martha Jane, Alfred Alexander, Bennet B., Rebecca E., Rhoda Ann, William Jefferson, Burtice Smith, and Samuel Adam Burney Rose ‑all born from about 1820 through 1838. (11) 

The Rose Bible, mentioned above, had belonged to the youngest of these children, Samuel Adam Burney Rose. (12)  Its family record includes an entry for the death of one Abner Rose on 25 October 1832 ‑ a promising clue, since Bennet had a grandson named Abner A. Rose. Subsequent research revealed a number of records left by an older Abner. He was born about 1760‑65 (13) and was last enumerated as a head of household on the 1830 census of Giles County, Tennessee. (14) He married one Sally Sum­mers in Surry County, North Carolina; (15) is listed in the 1784‑87 state census of Surry; (16) and was taxed there between 1785 and 1799. (17) For a short time in the 1790s, he appeared M Buncombe County, North Carolina, (18) but re­turned to Surry by the 1800 census. (19)  He was found there again by the census taker of 1810; (20) but in 1812 he sur­faced in White County; Tennessee, where he served on a jury (21) and then left subsequent records through 1813. (22) In the summer of 1813, he joined residents of the north­east corner of adjacent Warren County; who petitioned the legislature to have elections for their end of the county held at a home on Pine Creek. (23) 

Moving again, Abner was appointed constable of Lauderdale County, Alabama, in 1821. (24) In 1827, he appeared at the estate sale of Abner A. Strange in adjoining Lime­stone County; (25) and in 1829, as Abner Sr., he purchased land across the state line in Giles County; Tennessee. (26) He is listed there alone in 1830, aged between sixty and seventy years. (27) The census was the last record found for Abner Rose before the 1832 date of his death. Extensive research among land records failed to reveal any clue to the disposition of the twenty acres he bought in 1829. No public record in any of these counties treats any other Abner Rose. 

All other conceivable records were searched for direct evidence that Bennet was indeed a son of Abner. No estate records were located for either. Despite Abner's ownership, there is no recorded deed of sale that might have listed his heirs. No obituaries or estate notices for either Abner or Bennet were found in extant newspapers, nor does the marriage of Bennet cite his parentage.

ANALYSIS OF EVIDENCE

At this point, each piece of evidence was thoroughly tested for validity, answering four critical questions: 

• was it a piece of primary or secondary information?

• was it an original or derivative source?

• was it direct or indirect evidence?

• when was the record created and recorded?

• what was its purpose?

• who supplied the data?

 All known evidence satisfactorily passed these tests. Most contained primary information, were made by appropri­ate parties and in a timely fashion. Any record that might have produced personal gain was scrutinized for bias or misrepresentation but contained no conflicting data.

The evidence amassed for Abner was then correlated with that found on Bennet. Similarities were listed, with at­tention to any possible conflicts.

BENNET ROSE                               

·    Born circa 1788, North Carolina.  The 1850 census record cites his age as sixty‑two, born N.C. His1850 bounty‑land affidavit also cites his age as sixty‑two.                                                      

·    Enlisted, 1814, in War of 1812, f rom Warren County, Tennessee.

·    Obtained land, 1818, Lauderdale County, Alabama. Married there, 1819. (1820 census missing for Lauderdale. Bennet does not appear in surviving 1830 census for Tennessee.)                           •          

·      Moved to Limestone County, Alabama, by 1837; bought land.        

·      Bennet is not known to have had a son Abner (though one could have died young), but he did have a grandson Abner.

·      Death of Bennet is cited in Bible of his youngest son.

 
ABNER ROSE

·      On record, Surry County, North Carolina, 1784‑88‑thus, in North Carolina at Bennet's North Carolina birth. 1800‑1810 censuses assign him a male age to be Bennet [father].

·        Signed a[n] 1813 petition in Warren County, Tennessee.

·      Appointed constable, 1821, Lauderdale County. (1820 census missing for Lauderdale; Abner does not appear on surviving 1820 censuses for Tennessee.)

·      Bought property at an 1827 estate [sale] in Limestone County.

·      Called self Abner Rose Sr. in 1829, implying there was an Abner Jr. in the area.

·      Death of one Abner is cited in Bible of Bennet's son.

It is now appropriate to test the summation provided by the Genealogical Proof Standard.

 Was a reasonably exhaustive research undertaken. 

Yes. All known records were examined for the areas in which these families lived. All known relatives and asso­ciates were pursued. All modem methodology for devising links and developing indirect evidence were employed.

 Were complete and accurate citations included.

 Yes. See Notes and References at end of this chapter.

 Was the evidence analyzed and correlated.

 Yes. Each segment of each record was scrutinized and weighed. Yes, as set forth in the comparative table shown on the previous page.

 Were any conflicts resolved.

 There were no such conflicts. The documented ages of Abner and Bennet place them a generation apart. Their locations and migratory patterns are similar. Moreover, there was in the area no other male or female Rose who was a generation older.

 Did the evidence lead us to arrive at a soundly reasoned, co­herently written conclusion

 Yes. A careful analysis leaves no other possibilities. (Examples of evidence that might have pointed in another direction would have been an unidentified Rose in the land records of the pertinent areas or an unidentified Rose in close proximity on the census.

Conclusion:  The findings have passed all tests. The Genealogical Proof Standard can be properly used to determine that Abner Rose was in all probability the father of Bennet Rose.

 
CONTINUED TESTING

 Even after a GPS case is made, each new discovery forces a complete reevaluation. With the new evidence incor­porated, all the previously discussed criteria must be re­applied. It may strengthen, or it may even negate, the previous conclusion.

 In the Rose case, new evidence did surface—data that supported the conclusion while shedding new light on Abner. Correspondence with other Rose researchers turned up a related Bible record kept by the family of one David Pace of Tishomingo County, Mississippi. (28) The one‑page copy (location of the original Bible is unknown) starts with birth and death entries for David (February 20, 1792‑8 April 1848) and his wife Elizabeth (2 August 1796‑10 March 1872). It continues with similar data on children, then cites a birth and death for Abner Rose (6 February 1763‑18 July 1841), before concluding with death information for individuals surnamed Riddle.

 David Pace’s connection to Abner Rose, like that of Bennet, appears unprovable by direct evidence. However, it is implied by sundry facts of a circumstantial nature. Abner's 1829 land purchase in Giles County, Tennessee, was witnessed by David Pace. (29) The 1840 census of Tishomingo County enumerates an elderly male in the Pace household who was of an age compatible with Abner Rose; (30) and it was a common pattern of their society that elderly parents were cared for by their children—more frequently by daughters. Elizabeth Pace's birthdate, 1796, is in accord with that of one previously unidentified fe­male child enumerated in Abner’s census households of 1800 and 1810. And one of her children, as cited in the Bible, was Abner Pace—arguably named for Abner Rose. The discovery of the Riddle Bible prompted a renewed search for records of Abner after 1832 (the date he was first believed to have died). One tax roll at the Tennessee State Archives revealed that Abner paid an assessment on his twenty acres, in 1836, 31 providing further evidence that it was Sr. who died in 1841. Abner Jr., whose exist­ence is implied by the 1829 deed in Giles County, would seem to be the Abner who died in 1832—one who died on the verge of manhood. No further mention of him was found. The case might reasonably be made, from this additional evidence, that Abner Rose Sr. last on record in Giles County moved to Tishomingo County, Missis­sippi, after it opened for settlement in 1836, with his married daughter and son‑in‑law.

 The GPS conclusion remains intact.
 

 SUMMATION 

It is especially important, when there is lack of direct evidence, that every available record, of any type, be located and examined. If research has been reasonably exhaustive, complete and accurate citations included, evidence analyzed and correlated (weighing each of its parts), and if conflicts were resolved and a soundly reasoned conclusion formulated and coherently written, one may, indeed, be able to resolve the most‑difficult problem on the basis of the Genealogical Proof Standard.

 REFERENCES AND ENDNOTES:

 3.      Bennet Rose is aged 40‑50 in the 1830 U.S. census of Lauderdale Co.Ala. p. 192. He is aged 50‑60 on the 1840 U.S. cens. of Limestone Co., Ala., p. 168. He appears as 62 on the 1850 U.S. cens., population schedule, Limestone Co., p, 34, district 4, dwelling 483, family 483.

4.  Bennet Rose (widow Nancy) File BLWt. 42167‑80‑55; War of 1812 Bounty Land Applications; Records of the Veterans Administration, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C. The surrendered bounty‑land warrant file (General Land Office Files, Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49, National Archives, shows that Nancy Rose sold this warrant to Frederick M. Porter in 1856; he then took it up at the land office in Osage, Iowa. A search for the surrendered warrant issued to Bennet Rose under the act of 1850, no. 15855 (same file), has proved fruitless. The Land Office cannot find a record of its surrender, even though Nancy Rose, in a 12 August 1855 affidavit filed with the bounty‑land application, declared that this earlier warrant had been located by the heirs, i.e., used by them to secure title to a specifically located tract of land.

5.      Lauderdale Co. Land Certificate no. 5143, dated 22 October, 1818, in Register of Certificates Granted in pursuance of Law to Purchasers of Lands, U.S. Land Office; Huntsville, Madison Co., Ala., 1818­ 1820, housed at Alabama State Archives, Montgomery. Rose's land was the southeast, section 21, township 2, range 7 west, being 160.26 acres purchased at $2 per acre. Buying under the credit system then in force, he paid $80.13 cash and owed $240.39. The Bureau of Land Management, Eastern Division, Springfield, Va., records this in Tract Book, Huntsville, S&W#7: 112. Rose also acquired a tract on assignment from one Zachariah Rose, as evidenced by the file Huntsville Cr[editj 1549, Ala. CVFC‑1549:3­ 29‑25 Under. S23T2R7K" General Land Office, National Archives Record Group 49. Zachariah assigned his claim to Bennet on 27 June 1818; and Bennet.assigned his interest in the tract to Thomas Jenkins on 1 September 1827. By another peponderance‑of‑the­evidence argument that is too complex to present in these notes, Zachariah can be identified as a brother of Bennet.

The term Under, in the above file name, signifies that the land was purchased before the Act of 1820 abolished credit sales, but that it had not been completely paid for until sometime after the 1820 legislation. Titles to these lands are covered by a credit under certificate. (By contrast, lands purchased under the credit act and paid for before the abolishment of credit sales are covered by credit prior certificates.)

6.  Lauderdale Co., Ala., Marriage Book 1:1 (inside front cover), states that Bennett's license was issued 30 December 1818, and that the marriage was solemnized on 1 or 7 [illegible] January 1818 (sic, that year should be 1819!]. The bounty‑land file cited note 4 in this chapter includes a certified record dating the marriage as 16 January 1819. On a photocopy of the record from Lauderdale Co., the left digit of the marriage date is missing, perhaps covered by tape.

7.  1830 U.S. cen., Lauderdale Co, Ala., p. 192.

8.  Limestone Co., Ala., Deed Book 5:261, Benjamin French and Katherine French (X, her mark), his wife, of Lauderdale Co. to Bennet Rose of Limestone Co., N 1/2 NE 1/4, sect. 33, twp. 2, range 6, 40 acres. The transfer was personally acknowledged by the grantors on 8 July 1837 and registered 15 July 1837. In a Deed of Trust recorded in this county (Deed Book 7:145), Bennet Rose and Nancy, his wife, acknowledged being indebted to R. W. Vasser for $27.15. They mortgaged three tracts totaling 80 acres, described as (1) N 1/2, E 1/2 NE 1/4, sect. 33, twp. 2, range 6W; (2) E 1/2, N 1/2, W 1/2 NE 1/4, sect. 33, twp. 2, range 6W; and (3) N1/2, S 1/2, E 1/2, NE 1/4, sect. 33, twp. 2, range 6W. This instrument was recorded 10 December 1845 and satisfied 3 July 1848. Bennet evidently had obtained at least 39 acres of his land by 15 June 1837, for he is listed in the tract book of twp. 2S, range 6W, Huntsville Meridian (see Margaret Matthews Cowart, Old Land Records of Limestone County, Alabama [Huntsville, Ala.: Privately printed, 1984]). This latter source adds that there is a secretary of state's copy giving date of 10 October 1839. A personal examination of the tract book by the present researcher failed to disclose further amplification; possibly Bennet was an assignee and not the original warrantee.

9.  1840 U.S. cen., Limestone Co., Ala., p. 168; 1850 U.S. cen., pop. sch., Limestone Co., p. 34, dist. 4, dwell. 483, fam. 483.

10. Bible of Samuel Adam Burney Rose. About 1961 a photocopy of the family records, consisting of three pages, was provided to the present writer. The Bible's title page was said to be missing and presumed lost. The present location of the original Bible is unknown. Bennet Rose's bounty‑land file (see note 13) confirms the death date given for him in this Bible record.

11. 1850 U.S. cens., pop. sch., Limestone Co., p. 34, dist. 4, dwell. 483, fam. 483, lists children, Roda Ann, William J., Burtus S., and Samuel A. B. in the home of Bennet and Nancy Rose, The older children, i.e., Martha Jane, Alfred Alexander, and Rebecca E.were already married at this time, but an examination of their pertinent records for proximity, association with members of the Bennet Rose family, etc., well establishes their connection. Personal interviews with elderly grandchildren of Bennet—Ingram F. Rose, John E. Rose, and Martha Rose, in their eighties and nineties in 1966—verified the identity of their aunts and uncles.

12. Limestone Co., Ala. Death Register 1908‑14, entry for Samuel A. B. Rose, Jan. 13 [1913], gives the following data: b. Ala., farmer, aged 74y 11m 22d, widowed, father: Bennet Rose, b. N.C., mother: Nancy Rose, b. S.C., deceased was of Limestone Co., Beat 7; d. of "LaGrippe;" interment Limestone Co.; officiating doctor: J. H. Maples.

13. The age of Abner Rose is based on his age as given in the censuses of 1800 (26‑45); 1810 (45+), and 1830 (60‑70). His 1790 and 1820 census records have not been located; the 1820 census of Lauderdale Co., Ala., is missing. See 1800 U.S. cens., Surry Co., N.C., p. 685; 1810 U.S. cens., Surry Co., p. 665; and 1830 U.S. cens., Giles Co., Tenn., p. 167.

14. 1830 U.S. cens., Giles Co., Tenn., p. 167.

15. Original Marriage Bonds, N.C. State Archives, Raleigh [no file no.]; the file is accessed alphabetically by name of county and name of party. Abner's record is actually a fee memorandum, filed among bonds in place of the missing original. It is undated and shows only Abner Rose and Sallie Summers Mariage [sic] Bond fee paid,: and on the reverse there appear the signatures of Abner Rose (Seal), Rezia Rose (Seal) and W. [?] Ward, witness.

16. Alvaretta Kenan Register, State Census of North Carolina 1784­-1787. 2nd ed., rev. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973), 135 [sic, actually 144]. The pertinent list of Willeses" District, taken by John Taliaferro (presumably in 1786), records the Abner Rose household with 1 male, 21‑60; 1 male under 21 or over 60; and one female. The next listing is that of Sarah Rose, with 3 males under 12 or over 60 and 4 females.

17. Folder: Tax Records, 1775‑1789, collection C.R.092.701.6, N.C. State Archives, Raleigh. Abner Rose is listed in Capt. Willis' district in 1785, with no acreage and 1 free poll. In 1786, he appears in Capt. Atkins Dist., with 150 acres and 1 white poll. In 1787, district not shown, he is credited with 300 acres and 1 white poll, listed next to a Martin Rose. In 1788, he appears in Capt. Edward's District as Abner Rowse with 150 acres and I white poll; and in 1789, he is taxed in Capt. Meredith's District with 1 poll, but no acreage or horses. He then disappears from Surry Co. tax lists until 1797. During some of these intervening years, he appears in records of Buncombe Co., N.C. Note: the annual change in district names does not necessarily reflect moves by Abner. Districts were named for their militia captains, and militia officers were elected annually.

18. Abner Rose Land Grant, 7 July 1794, State Grant no. 60, file 143, N.C. State Land Office, Raleigh. The record cites 100 acres in Buncombe County on both sides of Flat Creek. The grant is also recorded in Buncombe Co. Deed Book 2:50. On 1 April 1795, Abner Rose of Surry Co., N.C. deeded to John Roberts of Buncombe County, for $50, 100 acres of land on Flat Creek, in an instrument signed by Abner Rose and J. Williams, witnessed by John Dillard and William Hunter, and recorded 5 January 1796; see Buncombe County Deed Book 3:34‑ 35. Abner was also on a jury in the October Session, 1792 (Buncombe Co. Court Proceedings 1792‑1832, p. 12) and again on a jury in the April Term of Court (ibid., 25).

19. 1800 U.S. cens., Surry Co., N.C., p. 685.

20. 1810 U.S. cens., Surry Co., N.C., p. 665.

21. Abner Rose served on a White Co., Tenn. jury 15 February 1812 and was exempt from jury duty on 11 May 1812; see White County Inventories and Will Book A, 1810‑1828,110,115.

22.  White Co., Tenn., original tax lists for 1813 at the courthouse in Sparta include Abner Rose in Capt. William Ridges Co., with one white poll and a town lot. Abner Rose and Benjamin Rose were bondsmen for Richard Home on 12 August 1812 (White County Inventories and Will Book A, 1810‑1828:214,215). Abner Rose and others were appointed road commissioners on 2 March 1813 (White Co., Court Minute Book, 1812‑1814: 74), and Abner Rose did jury duty 3‑4 March 1813 (ibid., 77,95).

23. "Petitions to the General Assembly of Tennessee," Ansearchin' News, 37 (Winter 1990):4, abstracted from microfilmed Legislative Petitions 1812‑1813, Roll No. 4, p. 159, no. 29‑3‑1813, Tenn. State Archives, Nashville. Cited here is a 31 July 1813 petition of citizens living in the extreme northeast corner of Warren Co., who ask to have elections for their end of the county held at George Cain/Pain's residence on Pine Creek, as they are thirty miles or more from the courthouse and may find it impossible to attend elections. Among the eighty‑two signatures is that of Abner Rose, listed between James Lockhart and Peter Tittle.

24. Jill Knight Garrett, A History of Lauderdale County, Alabama, (No place: No pub., 1964), 5, lists Abner Rose as constable in 1821. Garrett cites her source as Alabama Review, (Summer 1944). An examination of the Official Bonds card index, at the Alabama State' Archives, Montgomery, and the corresponding original register reveals one Aner" [presumably Abner i. e., the abbreviation of Abner] Rose, Lauderdale Co., commissioned as constable on I June 1824; see Official Register, vol. 1 (1819‑1832), Civil Register, County Officials. In the same Official Register, p. 142, is record of the appointment of Bennet Rose, justice of the Peace of Lauderdale Co. commissioned 29 August 1825, with his vice (substitute) being Thos. Aken.

25. Limestone Co., Ala. Will Book 3: 67‑70. Account of sale of property of Abner A. Strange by Edmund [or Edmond] S. Strange, administra­tor, returned 4 January 1827. Purchasers, who would typically be residents of the immediate neighborhood of the deceased, included Edmund L. Strange, Daniel Strange, Flander Tisdale, John Ridgeway, William Weatherford, Gabriel Long, William Yearwood, John C. Harrison, Abner Rose, Seaborn Bruce, Middleton Harrison, Simpson Flanagan, James Coalter, Henry Kelley, Brit Barret, Elizabeth Ridgeway, Joseph Moore, John Flanagan, Rice Bryant, Abner A. Strange, Ann Perry, Sophia Strange, Thomas Moore, Joseph Lane, Wm. G. Gamble, Zacheriah Jacobs, Barziller Harrison. The last page, 70, presents a further account that includes a negro and was returned 2 April 1827. Pauline Jones Gandrud, Alabama Records, vol. 88, Limestone County (typescript, 1934; published, Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1981), includes this account but erroneously gives the administrator as Erasmus S. Strange, and Sophia Strange (who bought several items) as Stephen Strange.

26. Giles Co, Tenn., Deed Bk H: 228‑229, George Beelor [var. Beeler] to Abner Rose Senr., sale for $160 of land in Giles Co. on Weakley Creek, containing 20 acres and 100 poles, surveyed 10 Dec. 1824 as lying in 7th [dist.] in Giles Co., along lines of Lawson Hopson, Martin Armstrong, and Alexander McDonald. Beeler signed with his X mark, as witnessed by John Buchanan and David Pace. The instrument was proved 7 Dec. 1829 and registered 11 February 1830. A note has been added, questioning the district in this document as the 7th. According to Giles Co., Tax Book 1836:45 [reel 3 of unnumbered 10‑reel series], Tenn. State Archives, Nashville, Abner Rose's 20 acre tract, was in Dist. 5.

27. 1830 U.S. cens., Giles Co., Tenn., p. 167.

28. Old Riddle Bible," a one‑page typewritten copy of family records. This typescript was provided to the present writer by Gloria Hendrix of Tishomingo, Miss., who had obtained it in 1971 from Patsy Clark Pace of Aberdeen, Miss. The latter is now deceased, but her son, T. W. Pace, of Amory, Miss., by letter dated 10 March 1987, states that his mother copied all the records from a Bible then owned by Mr. Minton Riddle, now deceased. The present location of the Bible is unknown.

29. Giles Co., Tenn., Deed book H: 228‑29.

30. 1840 U.S. cens., Tishomingo Co., Miss., p. 218.

31. Giles Co., Tax Book 1836: 45; Abner is taxed on 20 acres worth $200, 0 slaves, and 1 poll, paying $.20.