General Chat

There's no point in that Sue but what concerns me more is that all that wrong information gets passed around to other people. I researched OH's paternal grandmother back around 4 generations. I was very pleased with myself - even bought a couple of certificates. Then I found OH's grandparents marriage certificate and found that his grandmother's line was all wrong. I had to let other people know and thankfully they made corrections. It certainly taught me a lesson.

Sue

When I first stared researching my family, I tried to get as many names as possible I then added them to my tree without researching them myself, it wasn't until I then started to check what I was given by going to the archives that I found out that 3 times I was on the the wrong trail, so please check it all ... There is a tree on Ancestry that has about 227.000 names on their tree, I think the person just adds trees to their tree without checking.what is the point in that?

It always amazes me that people don't query how a woman of 67 has two children or that a man can father children years after he has died. I have sent messages in the past asking people how they have come across such information and one person told me quite bluntly that he copied information from another tree without bothering to check it as it wasn't his direct line. I sent him the proper information but he hasn't changed anything. You end up sounding pompous and pedantic when sending messages correcting other people's work - especially if they don't answer or don't bother changing their info. I don't bother anymore unless it's someone I'm in constant contact with.

Sue

thankyou all for your replys to me post, the best thin i can do is be 110 percent sure that what i add to my tree is fact! i think im going to add only what i can with birth and death records and things like that, i dont want to copy anyones tree, its just i wondered how that person had so many, and like one of you said , whats the point!, ones thing for sure, ive found some family through using this site, along with the help of face book i must add! ive saw pictures of me and my sister and brother and of my mum, it has helped me feel part of something , so im only adding what is real. thankyou all, good luck all with your trees . kind regards adrian from leicester england.

I have over 1,000 in my tree but the tree contains, me,
OH,sil and dil. learnt the hard way many years ago to check
everything and not assume the other persons info is right.
I like Ancestry but there again check it all. This morning I was
informed someone had allowed me to view their tree,haven't
had any contact with this person before, looked through their
tree and did not find any one related to me. No message to
help me help them. Can't understand why anyone would allow
others to view their tree without contacting them first. Takes all
sorts. Been researching over 30years, spent a fortune on certificates,
time etc. a great hobby. Good luck to all in your search.

Emmax

Rose - you are stating what I have many times to people contacting me - Ancestry I think is a nightmare. I took advantage of 2 week trial finishing last weekend. Of 10 trees accounted to one branch of our family, each one was incorrect, two with a small number of errors others were just horrendous - as if they had picked dates out of air.

I have been researching for about 25 years. I have each tree separate, mine, his, my paternal g.mother, his paternal g.mother and two small trees - spinoffs from his g.mothers as a result of being given a page from a family bible.

OH's tree is basically my own work - have occasionally others querying and offering info coming from having married in. I have just over 1000 on his tree but I have quality and feel I know them all so well especially those since 1841!! I only add in parents of those marrying in and daus marrying out I only add on 2-3 generations.

I prefer quality to quantity.

Years ago I opened my tree to someone who's only connection was....wait for it.....his great grandfather was the brother of a man who married my GG grandmother after my GG grandfather died. They were married just over 2 years before she died. He copied all the details of my tree including my mother's side of the family on that tenuous connection. He also has the tree on Ancestry and it's wrong - he hasn't even copied my tree properly. I informed him where his errors were and he wrote back and said that he was pretty sure he was right but if I could prove it with certificates - and he wanted me to email copies to him - then he would change the details. I decided to ignore him after that because there was no way I was sending him copies of certificates and I knew I was right. He now has around 5,000 in his tree and I would say a large number of that would be 'stolen' from other trees.

Sue

Adrian,i have had the same problem.A second cousin of mine added my line of my family on ancestry.Loads of other people copied.He had got my nans name wrong,a wrong husband and a wrong date of death and place?It was not my nan he was adding but a guess.Its so easy to go off track and best to check everything. Good Luck with your tree.

Annie

I KNOW OF SOME ONE WHO HAS COPIED EVERYONE WITH THE SAME NAME AS THE ONE SHE WAS LOOKING FOR ALL 23,000 ,SHE EVEN HAS MOTHER DEAD 5 YEARS BEFORE CHILDREN BORN,
WHEN SHE ASKED ME TO FIND A NAME AND I COULDNT SHE SAID DONT WORRY ILL PUT HIM HERE,FATHERING 2 CHILDREN TO A LIVING PERSON,I WENT MAD TRIED TO TELL HER THE IMPLICATIONS
TURNED OUT SHE HAD WRONG FAMILY,
AND SHE CALLS HERSELF AN EXPERIENCED RESEARCHER

I have 4800 people in my tree- but that's after only 40 years of research! lol

There is also a fault in the PAF program that can result in you doubling the number of people in your tree if you push the wrong button!


xxxx mick

Adrian - if you read through the various instructions on genealogy sites, you will find that most of them, if not all, say that you should NEVER make available details of LIVING persons on your tree, unless you have their permission. That is why we have the facility to HIDE some names. Genes Reunited will hide the names of people born within the last 110 years if their details don't show a date of death.
The mere fact that you can match names with another member doesn't necessarily mean that their information is correct, unless they have obtained certificates. What's the point of having 83,000 names in a tree if you are only related to a few of them? Also, 83,000 is a ridiculous amount - did he include Adam and Eve?

Adrian like Maggie when I first joined GR I opened my tree to someone who was distantly related to my husband, he likewise copied all of my tree. It would not have been as bad, but I was born in Northumberland and he has me born in Brixham, along with many other errors. So if someone was looking for me they would probably dismiss it. I have 1400 people in my tree, but that has taken over 14 yrs looking most days and visiting many record offices

You say you want to finish your tree soon, would like to point out this is a never ending hobby lol. Good luck anyway.
Carol

Oh - and Shane has a very good point.
My gran allegedly married the man who 'adopted' my father (dad was 16 at the time)- strange that I can't find a marriage, and that the only person 'available' when dad was 'adopted' was my gran -who was living in Cornwall.
Her new 'husband' was, at the time,living in Devon!! LOL
(They did live together later on in life- but he (a widower) insisted he was buried with his first wife and - stranger still - my gran wasn't at his funeral!

I'm on here under my married name-as I now don't know which is my real 'maiden' name!! LOL

Hi Adrian,
The person with 83,000 people in their tree may be the same person who I contacted regarding my father's stepfather (therefore no direct relation to me). I was going to give him some information on him, but due to a 'glitch'on GR, my tree had automatically openend to him.
I then noticed his tree growing -he was adding my mum's family to his tree!!
Bearing in mind his only tentative 'link' was my dad's stepfather - he had absolutely no link to my mother's side.
I closed my tree, he continued adding - but got many of the birth places wrong. He now has an awful lot of totally unrelated people on his tree, with the wrong details.
I have been researching for over 25 years. I only have 153 people on my tree on here, but I can tell you something about every one of them. they are people, not just names.
Genealogy is what you make it - a load of names or a social history of your ancestors. I prefer the latter and avoid the 'name collector'.

Adrian, I was in touch some years ago with a person who was distantly related to my husband. He copied my whole tree. Now why would he need my 6x gt grandparents in his tree? They are not related to him.

And beware of trees on Ancestry. There are a lot of them which have my oldest sister b in Ireland (wrong) and m to a man b in 1723, despite the fact that some of them have her (and my) fathers name and d.o.b. correct (1899) and also mothers name correct. People on Ancestry just click on 'Add hint' and finish up with rubbish trees. Dont make the same mistake.

Huia.

the ones ive added have been added with the help of my uncles, who gave me the names and dates of briths, i did find the birth records on here and have added them to there names, also a few pictures which i have been given, like you say best to be sure, and your rite, it does take lots of patience! even worse when im rubbish with computers! lol. cheers amanda.

Happy reseaching Adrian..........goodnight to you and Amanda...xxxx

I have a tree ,sent to me, which has my grandfather on it....... 100s if not thousands of names built up over a lifetime by a dedicated and careful researcher..... but the tree was still 'wrong' as were all those who had copied it , in that he couldn't 'know' what I knew ie my birth to the son of my grandfather...the son ( one of four) who 'didn't exist' unless one knew of the second marriage (virtually untraceable) of said grandfather.

There are trees on Ancestry that have copied from each other perpetuating the same mistakes...and it often takes just one mistake to make hundreds of names in a tree irrelevant.

I joined to add family to my tree yes ...but only if they're the right ones :)

Adrian , it must have been amazing for you to find out that there where photos of you and your sister as little ones being kept by aunts and uncles .

It can sometimes take years and lot's of patience to find elusive people but never give up hope .

Pickly holly is right though , you should always check out any names that you think might be connected to your tree yourself .

i will, im just getting used to useing this site, if you have any tips then give me a shout, thanks again holly, im hoping to get it finished by the end of the year, bit difficult as i dont speak to my dad, and need his motheres maiden name. ill see what i can get my sister to find out for me! cheers hun xx