Happy-Go-Clicky - Just Say NO!!!
My children sometimes get overly excited by their computer games. They also get overly excited when a program is installing or updating; or when an error or warning message flashes on the screen. Sometimes, instead of reading what it says or asking for help, they just start clicking away until their problem becomes 10 times what they started with. My husband calls this "happy-go-clicky" - especially when it's created a totally-preventable problem.
This happens very frequently in genealogy too. You find some new amazing bit of information or cool hint and you just add it willy-nilly without really checking what's there.
Here's some of what I've found on Ancestry today/recently which did not add anything of value to the family trees, except a mess for someone to clean up later!
Hints aren't Facts
Ancestry is an amazing piece of software, but it cannot replace the eyes and brain of a real human being!
Often, my hints will have one of the following major problems:
- wrong country
- incompatible dates (like many years after the death of the person - often the wrong century)
- totally wrong names
- no dates at all
Take Ancestry hints as just that - possible options. That's it!
Suggested parents is another cool feature of Ancestry, but unless the suggestion comes with some hard facts, JUST SAY NO!
Details without proof aren't Facts
So, someone else has some great "information" that you don't. So what?
If they don't have the proof, do not add it.
Golden rule of genealogy: Genealogy without proof = mythology! (And not the good kind.)
Because of this, I often ignore the hint about comparing my records with those of someone else. Why? Read what follows.
Today's Gaffs - Real Errors found today!
Today, I was trying to confirm the possibility of a particular parentage, so I went ahead and looked at someone else's family tree. They had the same name I was looking at (from an old book, so reasonable proof, but not as good as if I'd found the birth certificate or something similar.)
The top tree listed claimed to have 13 sources and 12 records, so I clicked on the person (who lived in the 1600s, dying in 1684) to see what I've been missing.
Uh oh...
Yeah.
Marriage record. Excellent!
Uh...
Apparently, they hadn't noticed that the date at the top of the image says 1705... Wrong person.
Next one...
Marriage banns from England. Wow!
Uh..
The entire book starts in 1754. Oh dear...
New York Emigrant record...
1800s. No...
Northamptonshire England Baptisms...
1775...
I think we have a problem.
The same tree noted three different sets of birth information - one from New Jersey, before the Mayflower had even arrived. Plus the marriage banns from England? All on the same tree?
(And yes... ALL this was found on the same person from one family tree...)
Was it a complete loss?
No. I did find several records for my ancestor - ones which were very good. But the owner's sloppiness made it really hard for me - and has likely resulted in many others grabbing incorrect information to support their own tree.
(My version of this person now has 4 sources and 4 records - all real and relevant!)
Moral of this story...
No more happy-go-clicky!
Yes, it will slow you down a bit to verify your proof before adding it to your tree. And we're not asking for you to travel to all these various places, just verify that everything makes basic sense first - and that you have some sort of evidence linking your person to the generations on other side of them.
A little bit of care now will save hours of headaches for you later - and everyone who comes after you!
Past Issues
| Issue No. | Subject |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why do Genealogy? |
| 2 | What to do or not do in your genealogy & a note about literacy |
| 3 | Sweden: patronymic names and church books |
Lori Svensen
author/designer at A'mara Books
photographer/graphic artist for Viking Visual
now also on: Whaleshares and WeKu
