General Chat

Sylvia,
Have only just seen your message, I thought no one else had any more to say.! How awful for you.
This seems more serious when you really think about it. All the wrong info. being spread around. If you tell people an give proof, I don't know what else can be done if they choose to ignore it.
One thing is that if people cant be bothered to check then they are not that interested in family trees.
Sue

Susan

you said "Some people do not like to be told but the danger is that others will copy it and before you know it many more will have incorrect info."


That is exactly what happened to me with the One Name Study on my maiden name.

There are hundreds with that name around the world .................... 3 families went from Buckinghamshire to Australia in the 1840s and 1850s. Some then went on to California in the 1870s through to the 1890s. Many seemed to have big families.

The ONSG was set up, and then they had a Family Meet around 2000. I was not invited! The Meet was somewhat secret for some reason ... my brother's widow heard about it, and asked if she could attend, and was told "No".

At the meet, the organiser of the ONSG handed out a cd containing all the information collected to date, etc.

I was given that cd in 2006 by someone in Australia, who also was a member of the family but had not been invited to the Family Meet but had got hold of the cd by somewhat nefarious means (and I'm NOT joking there!)


That's when I discovered that my father had disappeared, my brother (10 years older than me) was married to my mother, and named as my father.


In trying to solve that little "problem" ......... it turned out that the ONSG "leader" was in fact my second cousin, although he never ever answered any emails or letters (and I do now know why!).

He ended up being kicked out of ONS for not responding in timely manner to a query from a member of the public ...... the ONS gave him 6 months in which to respond because I was overseas.

The family name study was then also removed.



However ...... that wrong information is now being spread around the world.


I have been able to contact the person who is now the de facto keeper of the names and history of the family, and she has corrected it in the file that she keeps and that she will pass on in future.

BUT what about all those others who got the cd at that meeting (at least 100 people I believe)




and that was "modern" information.


I do know that much of the ancestral information he collected was/is correct because in fact much of it was collected by other people and handed to him, and it has all been checked over several times.

Other family trees may not be as thorough.



sylvia

Contrary Mary,
Know how you feel about telling other people who have the same info. but have it incorrect. I also have told this to them and they do not change it. I even went to records office to confirm, and they still do not believe it.

Why do we bother!!! Some people do not like to be told but the danger is that others will copy it and before you know it many more will have incorrect info.
Sue

I have a public tree on Ancestry, and I chose to go public instead of private despite having spent alot of money and time on research, as I am happy to share any info.
However, I would say, as others have, that it is always necessary to check that the info. is correct, as I have come across all manner of differences.on trees concerning the same people.
I have seen where people have gone wrong, for instance, census forms can be misleading, especially the part where it says 'relationship' to head of house. also names can be shortened or nicknames used.
I actually love the researching part, and the satisfaction of getting something right.
If one belongs to something like genes or ancestry, I personally think why bother if you are not happy to help others. Why not just do it on your own.
sue

I fiind this an interesting thread.
I cannot imagine losing interest in my tree, Robert. I agree Uggers that the fun is in finding the information and if it was all on a plate it would not be so enjoyable. However it is wonderful when someone comes along and gives you that tiny bit you need to solve a problem or make progress. I have a tree on Ancestry but still believe this to be the better site for making contacts. Often a 'living' person will provide anecdotes and photos which add to the bare bones of the tree.
I suppose everyone is different.

robert


I find this is getting rather boring .... you seem to want everything provided for you


this is at least the third thread on which you have stated your position that all trees should be available for you to remove as much information as you like or want. Granted, I think the other threads have all been started by other people, and I think this is the first one that you have yourself started.


Your position is contrary to that of a lot of people on here ...... and I think that is because most of us distrust both a) the trees we see on any site until we have ourselves checked out the information, and b) because we have all had information on our trees stolen from us by people who are in fact unrelated.

I haven't quite had my brother made into my father on this site .... alrhough I did on a One Name Study of my maiden name! ......... but I have "lost" a great aunt and her husband to someone who only saw the name and places of birth and death, and never noticed that there was a 100 year difference in birth years! Granted it was unusual to find two men with the same name, same birthplace and same place of death!



sylvia

You may think it is slow on here Robert but believe me it is a lot faster than it was in the days before computers .
Then it was necessary to look through all the names in the Family History magazines of the counties that you were interested in and write letters in all directions to ask if your Luke Lee happened to be connected to their Lee family. It took ages to get a reply if they even bothered to reply and I don't think I found any relatives using that method but I had a lot of nice letters to read.

Another method was to go to the nearest L.D.S. Library and look at the I.G.I. and if you found something of interest you could get a form from the library and fill in a request to look at the original record ,supply two American dollar notes and post it off to Salt Lake City. Sometimes it was possible to contact the person who had put the original entry in but I think a lot of their ancestral entries may be a bit suspect.
I received copies of the Parish registers showing Births and Marriages of my Scottish Relatives like that that had occurred before Civil registration began in Scotland.

Sitting at a Microfische machine for hours at a Family History Society and looking at all sorts of things like Census, Cemetary records, Emigration, there were lists for everything was another way. I used to be lucky to find two facts a year using those methods but it was interesting because there was always something to look for and there wasn't a lot of information about as there is now.. The internet has done wonders for genealogy.

Hi Robert

I too understand how you feel when you are waiting for a reply from someone via GR. At times this person may never ever reply at all, maybe they are no longer a member......BUT for about 83p a month or 20p a week isn't it worth renewing. You never know what info you may gain from being a member and, just as importantly for me, how you could help someone else.

As you will see from my board name I do not live in the UK and the help I receive from this site is always gratefully received however long the wait.

Wendy x

Hi Robert

I do understand and, to a degree, agree with what you are saying.......it's the waiting for someone to answer you on here that sometimes takes ages (or even never!) if the member you are trying to make contact with doesn't come in here very often.

I only keep a very limited tree on here and NONE at all on Ancestry. If I did put one on Ancestry then I would most definitely keep it a private one. I see no point at all in any old Tom, Dick or Harry adding a load of my unrelated ancestors to their tree when the connection is very distant........and unfortunately that happens all the time.

The trees on Ancestry (same as here and anywhere) aren't always accurate either. There is someone on Ancestry who has my ancestors on his public tree and despite my contacting him and giving him the proof that his information is wrong won't remove them........thereby allowing others to perpetuate the same error! I have all the certificates, he doesn't!

Especially true for someone new to FH and doesn't realise that some people don't research their trees properly, and being new and all excited at finding so much info readily available to them, just copies it wholesale :-((

Mary

Thankfully anyone who has ever contacted me has been as eager as I am to establish a link and to prove the link just as I do. Except for one person who just farmed information so that his tree had 1000s of names on it. As for making contact with living relatives, that is invaluable. They can tell you about parents, grandparensts and great grandparents from their familes view which can often add so much insight into the way people lived and worked. I have made friends from contacts, found 2nd cousins that I have met up with, exchanged photos which can show family resemblances and you can get a history and be aware of any genetic problems.

I don't want trees to be made public. I still want to research and enjoy my finds no matter how trivial. I also try to establish how a person may be connected before allowing access to my information.

This site has been great along with others for obtaining information, sharing information and at times helping others to find their information. I have been a member for over 7 years and I am still getting help and contacts. The latest one being last week and it is great!

The information took years to accumalate and often neeeds years to find it. Roll on retirement when I can spend more time researching!

It certainly is where you differ from most people on here Robert. We all enjoy the thrill of the chase but to say you will lose interest is a strange concept to me and I suspect others on here. I don't just collect name, I like to know how they lived, maybe who they lived next door to, what occupations they followed etc etc. You can learn so much from this hobby, and that is without attending lectures.

Perhaps this is where we differ. I'm not sure I would want to spend 20 to 30 years trying to find out the name of a few ancestors.
I tend to get enthusiastic about things and then drop them after a while. Also, I'm not that interested in finding any living relatives. The people I have contacted are presumably relatives in a convoluted distant way but I don't think they or I would be particularly interested in a meet up or whatever.
The thrill to me is in the chase.
The records offices are great fun and our local one has frequent talks on things like the Poor Law and Manorial Rolls.
I am planning trips to the Record Offices of Cambridge, Berkshire and Hampshire and toying with the idea of a short holiday in County Wexford.
I am sure if I don't do it all now the mood will pass.

Perhaps this is where we differ. I'm not sure I would want to spend 20 to 30 years trying to find out the name of a few ancestors.
I tend to get enthusiastic about things and then drop them after a while. Also, I'm not that interested in finding any living relatives. The people I have contacted are presumably relatives in a convoluted distant way but I don't think they or I would be particularly interested in a meet up or whatever.
The thrill to me is in the chase.
The records offices are great fun and our local one has frequent talks on things like the Poor Law and Manorial Rolls.
I am planning trips to the Record Offices of Cambridge, Berkshire and Hampshire and toying with the idea of a short holiday in County Wexford.
I am sure if I don't do it all now the mood will pass.

Robert, whilst I use Ancestry a lot, I have actually found no living relatives through it, they all found me here lol and of the trees that I have looked at with very few exceptions they contain random guesses at who people were, not facts, and I have more information which I then pass on to them rather than vice versa other than on the very outer branches of my tree, eg marriages to cousins etc .

Just a point on large trees...I had a great deal of info from a one name study,a life time's work, as a tree it would have run to thousands....but though it was exhaustively checked and backed up by records, it was still not accurate, a fact which only i would have noticed, there being no record on it of my father's birth and therefore mine lol !.

To be quite honest I want to move back rather than sideways.
By the same token I am likely to have 256 Gx6 Grandparents. I know the names of four of them who came from Berkshire and Hampshire but that is only from having shared information with a lady in Scotland who pointed me in the direction of Cambridge and Middlesex.
I have been happy to share any information I have, while wending my way through the highways and byways of England and everyone I have met so far has been happy to do the same. The Rootschat community is very helpful and the Cambridge and Hampshire FHS stands at WDYTHA were able to share their knowledge and provide CDs. I suspect a trip to Kew will be required at some point and again, I will share whatever I pick up, with the people I have corresponded with on my way. A chap in Australia provided me with Hampshire information and in return I have been able to confirm names and dates.
I don't think any of this would have been possible without the basic trees being searchable. I am sure I would still be thrashing around in the Scottish records trying to make some progress.

I have the basic membership combined with Ancestry. Ancestry gives me that bit extra i need regarding records etc. But i have had so many people contact me on GR , People that have kept in contact. We have exchanged photo's etc. So if i were you i would think carefully before giving up G.R
Susan

Not all the public trees on Ancestry are 100% correct as I know a couple of friends of mine have done their trees on Ancestry and have never bought a cert or been to the records office or anywhere for info but the chair they sit on in front of their computer.

So you may get duff information from any of the trees on Ancestry and as you say you can get a connection but then you would have to double check all the info all over again.

Why the rush to do your tree,some of us have been doing our trees for 20/30 years and have had the enjoyment of trailing round records offices and paying for certs to verify all the info.

All depends what you're in it for. I love researching - I've been doing this for over twenty years and have rarely come across contacts who have more information than me. On the rare occasions when someone has researched further back than me on a line I end up feeling quite indifferent about it because - for me - ancestors come to life as you research them bit by bit.

I have a very large tree, when you calculate that one 3x great grandfather had 75 grandchildren and another had 105, a tree will build quickly.

Of the many branches on my mothers and fathers side of they family, why would you want all that information, if you are from my fathers side of the family, I would share that information and not my mothers.

Sounds like you want to build you tree with very little work involved.

Gail

I am not missing the point at all Robert, I have said I have and will share my information, I just like to know there is a connection, it would be a pity if my information was 'stuck' onto somebody's tree just because one of my names happened to coincide with one of theirs. And believe me, it happens. I see that you prove your information with certificates etc so anybody lifting your information is lucky but it is not so with everybody as you can see from Daff's post. And I have not been slow to glean information from people on here, just this week from hot matches (in both cases one match) I found two useful and happy connections. Why be in a rush anyway, I enjoy taking my time over my tree, don't want to go at a gallop.