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GobBluth

(109 posts)
14. I love Ancestry to a point, but damn those trees
Mon Sep 17, 2012, 01:11 AM
Sep 2012

I am fortunate that my maternal line, well my grandma knows what is what. Her father-in-law was a twin, his twin died in Norway before emigration to the States. Yet EVERY family tree has my great grandfather DYING (obviously he didn't as I wouldn't be here!) and his twin living. And then they have the twin as a girl (though it was a boy). BUT those trees did open up to the fact that my Great Grandfather had 2 sisters that died before they got here (1 on the way), which I was able to confirm with other sources (Norway is great!)

I keep one tree which I click on almost every hint, and then constantly am working to verify it otherwise. I keep it private, or else I would have people always contacting me, lol.

If I took all those trees seriously I would have a TON of ancestors that were born AFTER their mother died, or BEFORE their father was born. It's good for me to look at them, maybe I will get a name to search that offers up some little info, but don't take them seriously. And please, if you run into my tree, be careful, it's always a work in progress!

Recommendations

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Does this happen often? Unfortunately, it appears that the answer is "Yes." AnotherMcIntosh Sep 2012 #1
The Decorah Norwegian Heritage Genealogiest deemed "Interent Genealogy is kickysnana Sep 2012 #2
This message was self-deleted by its author seaglass Sep 2012 #3
I let myself be led completely off track on one of my maternal branches polly7 Sep 2012 #4
something similar happened to me grasswire Sep 2012 #7
Can't always rely on books retrogal Sep 2012 #10
This happened to me with one of my maternal lines. AverageJoe90 Nov 2013 #21
When researching it is usually the researchers responsibility to use the generation rules to check jwirr Sep 2012 #5
They have a function that allows you to submit corrections to census indexing errors. kestrel91316 Sep 2012 #6
Yes CountAllVotes Sep 2012 #8
Oh no!! retrogal Sep 2012 #9
Frankly it irritates me CountAllVotes Sep 2012 #11
I understand... retrogal Sep 2012 #12
same here CountAllVotes Sep 2012 #13
I love Ancestry to a point, but damn those trees GobBluth Sep 2012 #14
I have decided to do this: only accept public records as truth grasswire Sep 2012 #16
Yes, this. /|\ PAMod Sep 2012 #19
even that can be annoying... grasswire Sep 2012 #20
Not with their user-submitted trees they don't Spider Jerusalem Sep 2012 #15
No and the user submitted trees are usually terrible kdmorris Sep 2012 #17
Hey, I'm dead! PatSeg Sep 2012 #18
Like some of the others... pipi_k Nov 2013 #22
I use the trees at ancestry as a first source... icymist Dec 2013 #23
Too many "errors" CountAllVotes Dec 2013 #24
I would use the user submitted trees as clues, not sources. OnionPatch Mar 2014 #25
Up to each editor of a tree and viewers to inform of any mistakes. I've come applegrove Mar 2014 #26
I sometimes write a message to one who has entered an egregious mistake - No Vested Interest Mar 2014 #27
I did that pipi_k Mar 2014 #28
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