Ancestry Family Trees: What to Do When Member Trees Are Wrong

[@michellemaria1360]

I was adopted as an infant, and I actively searched for my family starting in 2000 when I got my first computer. I found my birth family in 2013, when I was 51. My parents were both deceased, but I found a cousin, who was raised around my mother (I am her only child), and 6 siblings on my father's side. I knew and continue to know, WAY MORE about my birth family and ancestors than anyone who was raised with my birth family! Even 1st & 2nd cousins on Ancestry, My Heritage, Wikitree, etc., have less or INCORRECT information, than I do. I've reached out to them and introduced myself and basically say, "I have a lot of info on my tree if you want to take a look at it and fill in some of your blanks☺️". I have pretty much been ignored, so I just let it go and keep my tree updated properly.🤷🏼

[@mattpotter8725]

It's sad that you've been ignored in this way, but is there a possibility that they just haven't seen your message? If they had responded with a rude message back saying don't contact me again that would be more hurtful. You might be right though and probably are. I only responded because I just responded in quite some detail to someone who'd seen me investigating some people they were, and to ask advice, but I didn't see the message or I did, meant to respond and just forget (I'm not saying it's right or this is what has happened with you, I'm just putting my own experience out there). I hope at some point they do get in touch as it would be really nice, but it sounds like you are ok doing your genealogy as well as you can, and I'd imagine at some stage someone will be thankful, even if it's long in the future, that's the way I see it when doing my tree at least.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's so sad. One thing to consider is adding information to FamilySearch. It's a collaborative tree, so it's open edit. You could improve the one-world family tree and help those who don't want to correct their tree to see the errors of their ways. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqPHn5Sses6VjKc it might help.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Matt, that's true about not seeing your message. I did a video a while ago about this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aImse2mGacR6eJo

[@randyking3057]

Man, I would so welcome anyone to straighten me out on a mistake. I need to know if I made one.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Facebook groups can help you out. Or Genealogy Society special interest groups.

[@LyndaHeines]

Yes, The FB Germany genealogy group has been really helpful.

[@rover790]

Me too. I am open to any suggestions that have some sort of proof to confirm it and am happy to correct my tree

[@Nursie]

I know this is an older video, but this is the perfect video for me!!! Thank you!!!!! So much crap out there! Crazy, ppl act like they are genealogists and they are far from it!!!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You know what. I just wish people would be humble enough to admit when they're wrong. I have eaten plenty of humble pie myself as I learn genealogy.

[@jchisholm1968]

One of the best profiles I've seen recently On Ancestry, is a lady that was buried in the 1840s, then reburied in the 1860s but eventually got Married in the 1880s. I can only imagine that the guy who Married her wasn't much of a looker & had to lower his standards considerably. Lol As part of my own Family tree search, I have come across a lot of conflicting content & misinformation. This only adds to the confusion, & makes it near impossible to determine the facts. Unfortunately the Ancestry search engine doesn't go far enough to resolve a lot of these issues. As new members start to build their family trees they will inevitably copy these mistakes & the problem is only going get worse.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's hillarious

[@LyndaHeines]

John, You made me laugh so hard this morning! Thanks, I needed that.

[@jayr.taylor210]

You did a great job. Thank you so much! I’ve been keeping my tree private also to not push errors out into the Internet. When I make it available soon it will be documented.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Completely understand the wish to not perpetuate false information. I posted trees online in the late 1990s that I'm still the source for, even though I was just learning and made 1,001 mistakes. Ancestry announced the creation of Tree Tags during the RootsTech 2019 conference. I'm cautiously optimistic about this new feature to tag someone as UNPROVEN, etc. Sadly, the tags won't appear on the person merge page (right now at least) so folks might not pick up on that. But if they add that feature, it could attempt to reduce the propagated errors.

[@lorrier2475]

I enjoyed the way you handled this situation. Thank you for sharing!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks so much. I strive to be empathic but accurate. It's a difficult balance.

[@1jamarks]

Back in 2009 I got an angry message from a far off branch from my Bailey line in KY. I guess I got leaf happy in some late night session. I went in a deleted that branch. I changed by tree name to Family Tree - Experimental. I want to be able to follow possible connections as well as proven ones. And I learned to be more careful. I build my tree very slowly and deliberately and have this experimental tree to, well, experiment.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

We ALL make mistakes. If we learn from them, that's how we become better. Thanks for being honest about your journey.

[@realalcibiades2909]

Lol this is so true; I’m sick of Cleopatra and Constantine on public member trees and how aggressively the owners (usually Americans but occasionally British people) defend their ‘research’. You ask for primary sources and they’re like ‘I’ve done this for *three months* and am very experienced and can assure you that my ancestor is Saint Anselm as many trees say that- how dare you denigrate my research!’ It’s totally pathetic.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing. I know it's frustrating, but you just made me laugh.

[@ed9492]

Those trees you just ignore and/or laugh at, but trying to correct them is most likely a waste of time on somebody who at the very least doesn't care enough to pay attention to what they're including. This is why I don't even include other trees in my Ancestry hints. If my tree is incomplete then so be it, but I do my very best to make sure that it makes sense and none of it is outright wrong.

[@BRKS627]

Who knows their great parents names 400 years ago.

[@mandlerparr1]

The funniest ones are those that have wrong information in their trees, but they are also the ones that write you and tell you that your information is wrong. They don't have any sources in their tree, they won't give you any source information, and they contact you constantly to tell you that you haven't changed your tree to reflect their information. "I sent you the information yesterday, and you still haven't changed your tree!" Well, first, it was over 30 people, some I don't even have in my tree, I haven't even had time to look at all of them. You eventually just have to ignore them.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's too bad. I haven't interacted with folks like that and I try not to be that myself.

[@douglasw9624]

your comment reminds me of a 2nd great grandfather who researchers for years said died in 1897. The problem with that is he appears on the 1900 census. When I pointed this out to someone they said "well a census can be wrong". I was incredulous...a census might get a lot of things wrong but it wont resurrect the dead!

[@nickmiller76]

@@douglasw9624 Indeed, I've come across some really thick people on Ancestry, real Dunning-Kruger types, too stupid to realise how stupid they are. In the end, you just have to leave them to it.

[@brigittetheall9187]

People keep their tree private for different reasons. My reason to keep a tree private is because I know there are mistakes in the tree and I don’t want to propagate the mistakes. While I am revising the tree and checking and rechecking sources to make some corrections, I would welcome some constructive advices but Ancestry members can be quite aggressive if they feel somebody made a mistake😱

[@mandlerparr1]

My tree is named that it is in progress. I am going for accurate, but I also use it to trace DNA matches without trees and to work on brick walls. I have put notes on people when I am unsure, but those are just ignored. I keep mine public for DNA and to connect and also because somebody out there may have the correct information, or the answer to my brick wall. For the aggressive people, eventually you just have to ignore their messages, or tell them, as nice as possible, that you are not going to change your tree information unless you can see the sources.

[@raytrevor1]

Exactly. I know there are mistakes on my tree as I add all the information I find and revise/delete as I check the data from other sources, which can take some time. It is a working document for my own benefit - not a final publication. It would be a HUGE help if it were possible to add facts clearly as 'pending' or 'not confirmed' on the tree (a different colour or hidden somehow?), so that others could decide what to use. It would also help me use the tree as a tool to see what I need to investigate further. Until that happens my tree will have to stay private. A pity as it means I cannot share the information that I know to be correct.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Brigitte, I understand the variety of reasons to keep trees private. I'm fascinated by the recent release of Tree Tags. There will be the ability to tag a public tree as "unverified" or "Hypothesis." The engineers, and Crista Cowan, the Barefoot Genealogist, hope this will enable more facilitation of collaboration. What that means is I need to put out more content that trains individuals to pay attention to the tags and not accept the content as fact when someone says it's unfounded or a theory. I think there is room for more training of users on Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage and now FindMyPast from their collaboration with RootsFinder on how to play nicely and reach a mutually agreed upon consensus until further evidence flips things on their head. I'll have to work on those types of videos.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Well said mandlerparr1. I have my tree on Ancestry for DNA purposes and I strive to keep it as accurate as possible. I dislike when folks ignore notes. However, do they know these places exist on the site? Sometimes the websites offer features that few people recognize. I find that to be the case as I teach about the various online trees and genealogy software. Let's see what we can do to move the needle.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

@raytrevor... You said it would be a HUGE help to be able to mark facts as pending or not confirmed. Guess what!!! Ancestry is adding tree tags for this. We can label an ancestor as "Unsubstantiated" or "Hypothesis" or "Brick Wall". Those are some of the predefined tags. We can also make some of our own. Such as "Revolutionary Ancestor's Line" or "Immigrant Ancestry", etc. I'm very interested in seeing how these tags can change the game.

[@deckocards6988]

Hey Devon---great video but you aren't talking very loud or you have the volume down on the video. I had my sound all the way and there moments I couldn't hear you at all :-(

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm so sorry. As you know, I project well. I didn't realize the volume wasn't passing through as it should until it was too late. I did caption this video for those who struggle. Did that help at all? But yes, we won't be releasing low volume videos again.

[@frankhooper7871]

My main tree is public, but I have a private tree where I work on suppositions and hypotheses. *If* the hypothesis proves correct [to my satisfaction] then I move the information onto the public tree.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's an approach many people take.

[@olivemd]

Good idea. Think I’ll do that. Most of my tree is fact based, but I’m trying to find out who my grandmother was and I don’t want to embarrass myself with errors showing.

[@GYPSYG514]

I KNOW that frustration... I have someone that "took" my 3rd great grandfather (born in 1802) & proceeded to add it to her own tree (born in 1810) added ALL of my info to her tree, including wife, children, pictures etc. then proceeded to add a brother (born in 1892). I messaged her to tell her to tell her info was inaccurate & would she please remove all of MY info from her tree. she didn't care & refused. also, on what would be my 4th great grandfather it says this: Father Gatto (Please note that My tree is a work in progress. This is just a holding person. The “children” attached are not proved). she also lists herself as "Family History Experience Advanced". because

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

With the Ancestry platform, anyone can take anything and put it into 'their tree.' Sadly, this is how inaccurate information can be propagated.

[@MagnusVia]

I have MacKenzie on my maternal side that connects directly to one of the main families. As you go back, the Mackenzie connect to other notable families. Many of these families have recognised, yet incomplete "trees". The "trees" that are documented are generally considered to be sound. Ancestry? There are hundreds of trees that are wrong. There are men somehow living in Scotland and America at the sametime. Married and having kids with each wife at the same time. Parents living in the 17th century Scotland having children in 19th century. Then there are those with multiple sons with the same name all living to a old age, all moving to the US, all inheritting dads title. The entire branch that pack up and moved to the Maryland in the late 1600s, but kept coming back to Scotland just to have kids for the next hundred years. To the ones that have taken my ancestor made some changes. He is no longer a Gairloch, but now the 4th of Davochmaluag (someone with the title does exist but a century or 2 earlier). He has a different wife with new kids. They have him connected to the Seaforths. Have contacted a few with the same result. Nothing changes. They do not comprehend territorial destinations. In most case, they have not download the actual parish record and assume their John has to be the same John they found in the indexes. If they have the record they ignore what the record saids or does not say. I created a tree called "Fakes - Phony Profiles ~~ Spurious - Fraudulent Pedigrees". With the help of others we have managed to keep WikiTree and Geni correct in most instances. Family Search and Findagrave is a whole different story.

[@jamesolson9745]

finding things others did not know can be exciting. Researched my grandfathers aunt that he lived with when he came to the US. found the record of her arrival to the US, and found two children previously unknown. One was three and does not show on any other records. the other was 18. He was listed in local directories as living with his parents for two years but in the 1910 census was married and living in another city. The father was shown to have lived with him in later census but the mother was listed as inmate at another location. (inmate) I found can mean a resident of a Nursing home or a Hospital.

[@douglasw9624]

In researching a wife's line I found a record that listed their family coming to America and noted that one of the children had a different last name (the maiden name of the father's mother). I realized someone always known as an uncle was actually adopted kin. I dont think they really believed it...but what the heck

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I love finding new things out. If it can be proven, I wouldn't say that was junk. congrats on your discoveries.

[@PeterStawicki]

Thank you for all of this. You make me laugh so hard! I just basically avoid the junk tree people no matter how many times Ancestry tries to offer them up as a possible hint! (That gets so annoying but I just have to learn to ignore over and over again)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm glad I can bring a little laughter to your life. I have colleagues who use member trees all the time, but I haven't found much value in them. So, I suppose you and I are in good company.

[@suellenw561]

Many years ago I found a tree with my mother's Uncle John married to Mary. I knew John. His wife was actually Mary's sister Grace. The source listed a book from 1950s. Sure enough, that's what the book said. I put a post-it note on the profile. But does anyone ever read those? I had my doubts. As you said, there's nothing more that can be done. I know my tree is correct. I was in school with one of their sons. We visited the family regularly.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Sadly, until the genealogy community learns to work together sharing sources and rationalizing things together, correcting family trees for some will take a long time.

[@sheilasmith7991]

I find this problem in many ancestry family trees. I have been reaching my ancestors for 25 years and have been as thorough as possible. I've managed to get back to 1485 through parish registers and then wills. Comparing my research with other trees following the same line I'm constantly finding errors, for example dates and locations that make no logical sense. This branch were from Kent in England. Other trees jump around the country with births in multiple counties,and often link the family to individuals connected with famous historical figures. The fact is these were yeomen farmers with no royal blood. They were born,lived and died in the general area of central Kent. I don't know where other researchers have found this innacurate information, and very often other people seem to simply copy the information and post it in their own tree. I've given up even looking at other ancestry trees because many people have mistakes and unreferenced data.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I like to think the errors are from legacy trees when folks didn't have the deep databases we have now. The programs and online trees will flag dates and relationships that don't seem likely. They haven't a tool to handle the multiple locations though. I praise people for trying and try to clean up the tree slowly but surely. Honestly, I've given up on using tree hints kzbin.info/www/bejne/eXyznH2Ie9iGetE

[@gptr8517]

I orriginally put my family research on Geni - all my info supported with references to BMD certs, Census, church records, etc ... I had to verify all the data I was given by my late grandparents before doing so. Unfortunately, at the time it seemed that anybody could just add names and dates to my tree on Geni with no sources to back up anything they attached. I kept trying to change things back and letting them know, but to no avail - it even ended up with me arguing with one of the Geni moderators who told me that only the person attaching the data could take down or ammend it. So my mother (two brothers and a sister) ended up with over twenty sibblings she didn't know she had ... some of which were born before her grandmother; duplicate data was added with different dates, even I appeared on there three times; and one ancester died three times after his official death certificate - and born four times to the same parents on the same date! Frustratingly, the moderator had been ammending my data to fit in with the material added by others!! I ended up quitting Geni ... buth they refused to take down my site, claiming that the attachment made by other other people who were using it meant it couldn't! Unfortunately a lot of this "wrong" data is still being copied into other peoples family trees and is flagged up as possible matches on other sites. I know that because I use another site now that doesn't allow people to add their data to mine willy-nilly (although they can merge it into theirs without affecting my tree) but which suggest possible matches - some being the wrong info from the Geni site they wouldn't close. And that makes me cross!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Sorry to hear your frustration with that platform. Collaborative genealogy isn't always as positive as I've found it to be.

[@nickmiller76]

I would never ever put my tree anywhere where it could be interfered with by other people. That's an absolute rule for me.

[@randyking3057]

This girl is a lot more accessible than other youtubers on the subject of genealogy.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks. I try

[@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400]

Thanks. After accepting a junk family line, how does one easily remove it from the tree. Other than deleting. Every. Single. Person individually?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

There isn't an easy way. Either delete the entire tree and start over from the beginning. Or, delete each person. I thought deleting families in RootsMagic would be the answer but instead, it creates huge problems. Since RootsMagic downloads all of the media files attached too or the sources connect on the person profiles, you can delete the person but you have broken media links and unused sources.

[@erasgonehistoricalmolds2400]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Thanks! I was afraid of that. WIth 5,000 plus folks in the tree, I can't start over. It is just the line of one GG-Grandmother that goes about 4 generations before her. I was hoping Ancestry had provided a fix for this since the last time I needed to do it several years ago. I appreciated your video and have subscribed!

[@suellenw561]

About the family moving around so much ... I found a death certificate for a young boy with the family names that were familiar but the place was not. Why would a family from western Virginia be in eastern Virginia in 1920 when the boy died? I checked the locations of other family members & found that father had a much older son, son's wife & their children living there. To top it off, the boy's death certificate lists mother's common-law husband (my ggf) as father while his birth certificate lists her first husband as his father. I would guess that many people have conflicting info on this family because the actual info is so confusing. Even some of the info regarding his death doesn't make sense -- "died of influenza ... contributing factor emphysema" at 3 yrs old? And why was there an operation 3 days prior to death?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's why the genealogy proof standard as these three principles 3. The evidence is reliable and has been skillfully correlated and interpreted. 4. Any contradictory evidence has been resolved. 5. The conclusion has been soundly reasoned and coherently written.

[@martyt8551]

I’ve informed many people of incorrectness’s on their trees , just get ignored…

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Sadly, that's the cause with "My Tree" websites.

[@ALPS707]

I put the info in the Comments of the ancestor, Comments are public, Notes are not. I found one mother who gave birth to MY ANCESTOR at the age of 58!!! A-mazing.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's a great tip. Thanks for sharing. And yes, wow!

[@LyndaHeines]

You are so funny! Loved this video! I recently uncovered a lot of good information about my family and messaged several people for their trees. I heard back from one who was excited, one who said he'd check on it, and nothing from the others. I get frustrated with people with trees who are active on Ancestry (according to their profile they've been on it in the last week or so) and they don't respond at all. I wanted to know what a german obit said or at least have a clearer copy of it so someone could translate it. The original poster has never gotten back with me as many of the others who just blindly put it up. One person did respond that she couldn't help me because she couldn't translate it because it was too fuzzy. So she has no idea what it says either. I also heard on a forum where people keep their trees private because they don't want other people to "steal" their research. What?? I won't even look at trees if they don't have any sources other than other Ancestry trees. Junk! Sorry for the long comment but this topic is a pet peeve of mine.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Never be sorry for the long comment. You have shared some of the frustrations I have encountered. There are some Facebook groups that do offer translation of small pieces as a volunteer service. Look for those that are for German Genealogy research somewhere in their title or description. For the rest of the complaints, sometimes genealogy is a VERY lonely activity for the reasons you cited.

[@LyndaHeines]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Yes, the FB German Genealogy group has been wonderful, and I've also found some helpers on Family Search and Geni.

[@treeclimber2]

I actually keep my trees private so people don't just grab and go. I'm looking to interact with people who are researching what I'm researching. Anyone who is serious can ask me anything anytime and I'm happy to share or invite to my tree.

[@annewandering]

I am not really related to Thor and Odin? My heart is broken! lol It always makes me laugh. Unless other trees have living people as dead I do not even bother trying to get them to correct the information. The good thing is they have always fixed their error when I have told them the person was still alive.

[@juliasoliday1055]

I had come across a 4th cousin with a birth and death date from someone's tree and so I added them to my tree. Then, i received a message from this guy who said that person was still alive and he "just talked to him last week." I went looking to see where the death date came from, and it turned out to come from the guy's tree who had sent me the message. I informed him that the death date came from his own tree, and then it was "oh, my wife does the tree, but I corrected it now." Some of them are so funny.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Anne, sorry to burst your bubble about the Norse Gods. I have tissues. I am happy to hear folks are willing to correct mistakes. I'll admit, I have marked a great aunt as deceased when she was alive. It was in the early days of genealogy (before obits, SSDI, and more were online and easy to use to verify). I used hearsay, which was a BIG mistake. I have since corrected it but, oh how I wish someone would have corrected me sooner.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Julia... this is so funny. I'm cracking up and sharing this with my children who are laughing as well. I have to share this on Twitter because it's really too funny. I'll block out your name.

[@annewandering]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics lol share where ever. I do. It really does crack me up. My husband had all these cool ancestors and mine were so normal. When I found this I just had to tell him then remind him on occasion that I was descended from GODS. Proven by ancestry trees!!!

[@anneahlert2997]

I have one public tree that has the words "WARNING ERRORS IN THIS TREE" as part of its name. It does have a lot of good info, but it also has some errors I made early on, when I was too gullible and trusted other people's trees too much. They were just a few families, but it was enough that I can't begin to make sense of them all without also losing a lot of valuable verified information.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I like that you're trying to notify other researchers of the status of your research. Is it helping or are people perpetuating the mistakes?

[@anneahlert2997]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Well, sometimes it seems to be helping. Other times, I don't think people are paying attention. I use the Suffix field to make some very specific notes about the person-- always in parentheses-- especially since I have a lot of people with the same names. For example, I might have five John Smiths, each will have something like (b.1812) or (m.Johnson) or (Son of Samuel) etc. I also put things there like (UNSURE OF NAME??) or (NEED TO VERIFY BIRTH). Later on, I will find those exact same notes in several other trees for that person. I know my tree-- errors and all-- was copied unchecked. The worst part is, that I can find very OLD notes about uncertainties or errors in other people's trees, years later.

[@kaymitchell7798]

I have one posted on Ancestry.co.uk by a Canadian gentleman. According to his Family Tree Thomas Foster lived to be 100; so did his wife lived to 100 and also his mother Catherine lived to exactly 100. Catherine was a very fit woman, lived her life in Staffordshire, England then Lancashire and finally died in Connecticut USA. I hope I have inherited their long-life genes ! He may not be 100% accurate but at least he has a record 79,839 people on his tree and lots of folk seem to have used his information. He is continuing to pass on inaccurate information. Check out everything before putting on your tree.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I believe you're being humorous and I'm glad you are. We have to be very careful with online trees.

[@jase0140]

I contacted ancestry about a misleading entry, 1748 mary atkinson of Chatham Co Nt Carolina died in England. I was so excited to finally find our American connection, but after more investigation absolutely no info anywhere on this person. I even contacted local registries and nothing. Ancestry couldn't tell me where the info came from.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

SO Ancestry wouldn't be able to tell you, it's people who put trees up on Ancestry. Sadly, many users don't know where they obtained their data. I feel yourstruggle.

[@pamelawhitaker7073]

I actually did have two sons in one year.....strange but it is possible!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

It's rare but possible. So you have to leave notes so that others will not doubt it happened.

[@k.Newbbie]

Yep, defo possible lol... I have family who are born November, December, August & October... pregnant every 6 week check 🙄🖖🏽

[@robintyde5441]

Last year I found one person on Ancestry.com they put up their DOG. I contacted the tree and told them this was genealogy. Their dog would be good on FACEBOOK.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Luke Skywalker and Harry Potter's genelaogy can be found on Ancestry as well

[@wattsupwiththat1463]

I recntly came across someone who had my great grandfather having 8 wives and 53 kids. I didn't bother looking at her details. She also showed up in my DNA match with 10cm. Still not looking at her tree.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

What the what? Wow. Just wow.

[@martyt8551]

DNA matching, what a load of rubbish, people saying they have found family through it , be very sceptical , I still rely on good old paper records….

[@wattsupwiththat1463]

@@martyt8551 I wouldn't says it's a load of rubbish. 10cm is not very conclusive. I recently had someone contact me who matched my DNA as a 2nd. She found out her mom who was now deceased had become pregnant by another man. I was able to track down her half brother who was still alive. I also used DNA to find out who my great grandfathers father was. He was registered as illegitimate in church records and had the name of a married man 10 years his mothers senior. My DNA match people who were related to the the biological father. Anyhow, DNA can help, but paper also helps. But then again the woman whom I help find her relatives had a piece of paper saying someone else was her father.

[@carynrichards9175]

Hi, Devon, Thank you very much for all the Family History Fanatics videos, they are very helpful! I have a question about a similar problem: what do you do about bogus information on Family Search trees, especially when enough people have kypped the bogus information that it can't be changed? I spent decades researching my husband's family tree (when I started, all anyone knew was that his g-grandfather's name was Jerry and that he was born in NYC). When I had much of the family re-pieced together, using censuses and birth, marriage, and death records, I put in on Family Search. (This was about 2011) People changed the tree. I tried for a while to keep up. The last time I checked, they had changed Mary O'Neil (proven) to Matilda Henderson (totally wrong!), left the kids of Mary O'Neil listed (but as Matilda's, with absolutely no proof), and will not let me rectify it because too many people have jumped on the wrong train. I have not put any of my research on Family Search for years because I am scared to death that they will mix everything up and cement it in stone again. In fact, if I could figure out how to take my tree off or disconnect it from my husband, I would. At least on Ancestry, other people's horrible mistakes don't muddy up my research. So what can be done about horrible mistakes cemented into one's Family Search tree by other people? Thanks!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Two things: 1. Communicate with other researchers. Invite them to review your researcher and share theirs so you can work together to clean up the family tree. 2. Consult with the FamilySearch.org Support team. Ask for there insight if something egregious is happening. 3. Be the last one standing. In this video, James Tanner explains similar thoughts. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHSaoYJjotynfrM The trouble with 'my trees' on other platforms is that false tree information continues to be propagated and never corrected. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to see Charles Gordon linked to a bogus tree on Ancestry (I can fix it on FamilySearch though I have to stay vigilant). Best of luck.

[@penelopesoady5849]

Maybe put your tree into "Genealogies" these are trees that CANNOT be changed by anyone else but you. Download a gedcom file and upload to Family search genealogists.

[@jeslookn5470]

It's been my experience that nearly every tree that I look at is a junk tree. The Ancestry Family Tree hints that go nowhere. a couple of records. People copying mistakes. I The ones that have many sources and records are for other people that are not related or multiple censuses for different people in other states, but not for the actual person that never left the town they grew grew up and died in. That's why I don't look at other trees while I''m working. When i get to a certain point I check to see how I'm doing compared to others and find all of these mistakes. We both know you have to go beyond Ancestry like historian's offices, libraries, local histories, newspapers, churches or whatever to get more information to know what it was like for your ancestors. I'm not related to anyone in my tree, but I know brothers and sisters that didn't get married are mostly ignored on other trees, but these people's records can be a goldmine for other family members that were out of the house before 1850. Some are in a census record with parents, brothers, sisters, they can be a grandchild, nephew, niece, aunt, uncle. I have a number of people with the same surname floating around that were born between1800 and 1830 in the community. When I find parents wills these people can be tied to a family. Another thing about pioneer settlers is that it's rare to find other people with the same name and age because for the most part they were the only ones with that name and age and that goes for their children. When you get to cousins then you can find people with the same name and age. Even then they can be differentiated.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I just avoid member trees and do original research (or computer assisted suggestions after validation).

[@12234nic11234]

There's a lot of bad information, that's why it's important to research and verify everything with sources. I've found a photo that someone put up that's supposed to be an ancestor who died in the 1650s but the photo is of a woman born in the 1800s. Also another photo of an ancestor who died in 1817, someone had a circa 1920s photo of someone with the same name but claims it's the ancestor who died 100 years earlier. Dozens of people copied these photos to their tree without question

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yep. This is one reason why I like working on collaborative trees. Folks can fix these errors and reduce the propagation of bad information. However, sometimes you have to fight with folks to get it corrected.

[@stevelaursen1691]

I deleted my uncle by mistake. How do I get him back. and what about my cousins. can he be reattacjed to them. thanks

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

If you deleted your uncle, then create a new profile and link him to his parents. Then reattach his children to that profiel

[@NiamhCreates]

Thor is as fictional as any other deity. ;-) :-P

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Absolutely. And yet, he factors into many trees on Ancestry, FamilySearch, and the like. Mind you, some folks might be related to Chris Hemsworth, the actor who plays Thor in the Marvel series, but that's a different story.

[@douglasw9624]

After many decades of research I have encountered numerous dubious genealogical connections. On Ancestry (my program of choice) I'll do exactly what you say and add a story which I usually title "research notes" describing how I have come to my own conclusions. I do this not only when I encounter conflicting information in other trees but also when I am not 100% certain of my own connection. For example: there are two John Barnes b 1790s in NC who ended up in IN at the same time. Descendants of both claim his parents to be Jehu and Lurannah Teague Barnes . Obviously one is incorrect. In a post I give my reasons why I think my John Barnes is the true son: 1) his eldest son was born in the county next to where Jehu died a few years later; 2) Jehu has a son Ninivah and my John a son Ninian (weak evidence) 3) I have DNA connections to the Teague family (mothers maiden name). Another thing I do which I dont necessarily recommend is note in the individual's suffix box; "not certain" or "probable". Of course if you use the suffix box frequently to note Sr. or Jr. this could be problematic...but I do not..."shrug". Fixing bad lineages on Family Search is more difficult however individuals can post comments to a "collaborate" tab which I feel is a good way to comment on bad connections.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing your strategies. Have you started using MyTree Tags for probable, not certain, etc? That could also be a helpful feature rather than the Suffix field.

[@douglasw9624]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics So far I have only used the My Tree Tags infrequently but after your video I'm planning to change all those suffix notes to tags...I should have mentioned that...but it took a while to sink in ha ha

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

No worries

[@Cws351]

Amen.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thank you.

[@violetbennett2407]

Why do people post information that they have not documented. They can search the census records and find so much info to prove what they are saying or that what they are saying is incorrect. That sure takes awhile to correct things.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

My guess is that they are beginners who haven't learned the value of source citations.

[@staceycoates1418]

I normally only correct people if the relationship is close. Like 'For my living grandmother, her parents are XX and YY and she has one full-blooded brother...ect." then I follow up with whatever the pertinent information is. Her father had three wives and at least seven kids. (I am still surprised that we have only found one not from a marriage.) Otherwise I only try to contact if I have the documentation to support it. I have a great grandfather who died in 1859, but there was a book that mis-typed at put his death at 1855 (with at least two kids born after his death). I have another copy of the book (typed from the original manuscript as the people didn't realize I book was made from it) and I have the probate records from after his death that my local library has the originals. I will sometimes correct that (hello, TWO kids born afterwards!) But most of the time I let it go. if I do notice a mistype on their part (like 1980 instead of 1890) I might do that as well, but honestly I have not noticed many of those as even if I get the info I double check it anyway. I will be doing some correcting soon as I think DNA has broken through my brick wall! And (after verifying) my William had a cousin with the same name who was ten years younger and generally lived in the same areas as both sets of cousins lived, so it is all tangled up. (They at least had the same middle initial as I still have not gotten a definitive answer on what his middle name and out of the seven records I have three J, one Jack, one Jasper, and one Jefferson, so I just say J.)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Stacey... I love your lengthy comments. There's so much to respond to! On Ancestry, I rarely reach out to folks to correct their trees. In fact, I rarely use the Ancestry Member tree hints. (I know. I know. But, I'm being honest). Instead, I focus on sources and such. On FamilySearch, I will reach out to others when I have sources to back up information. For the most part, folks have been interested. I'll share new-to-them information or they'll say... "Yeah, that was an extremely distant relation and I'm not sure I was doing good work. Fix it as you suggested." With the new changes to Ancestry's platform, we'll have to see where things go.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Good luck on the DNA brick wall breaking down. Keep me posted.

[@staceycoates1418]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Well, Ancestry just received my last grandparent-to-test's kit yesterday and as this is her line I may wait until it is processed so I can get more DNA proof!

[@barbarahawkins7930]

Hi Miss Devon... A different DNA Co. looked at my grandma's Mtdna test and they cannot figure out where her Haplogroup came from... very upsetting. The only reply I received when the company looked at it stated my grandma's Haplogroup with extra mutations said her matches etc were too complicated. I am beside myself here. Now what? Thank you so much.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Which company?

[@annelisabethcom]

A great place to write up conclusions is Geni. It’s a world tree, so well placed for that.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Geni is an interesting platform. The trouble for many, including myself, is the lack of records to link to the tree. I don't see it as a viable solution for most people, but for those who want to collaborate in a research-minded environment, it's a great alternative. Here's the link for those who aren't familiar with the platform. www.geni.com/worldfamilytree

[@annelisabethcom]

Family History Fanatics Norwegian records are free and available all over the world with persistent links. So it’s possible to quite easily link to records using the markup language. This makes Geni an ideal place to write up conclusions for Norwegians. You can transfer over from MyHeritage (but I believe it requires paid subscription both places), Ancestry and Familysearch. That leaves a link to what you transfered from. There’s a plugin called Smart Copy that’s used for that. It’s especially useful to transfer from Familysearch, as the records are then linked and free to check for anyone with a free login. So I stand by Geni being the best place to write up conclusions, if you do it right. The only alternatives to Geni are Wikitree (more confusing to use than Geni) and Familysearch (still way too many duplicates. I found 14 duplicates for one couple recently, and the search function isn’t good enough). The only bad thing about Geni is that there’s no soundex, and they should have added letters to search results. So when you search for a surname you can go straight to where the letter the first names you’re interested in start. The lack of sources is surmountable. You can add links where applicable or add sources as images.

[@GunGun2314]

Lol I came across Henry The VIII connections lmfao hard to believe the website sometimes I think

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Agreed! Some people keep insisting they know what's right. I keep my opinions to this video.

[@woodskid4ever]

Many inconsistencies with Ancestry....It says i have zero French blood yet my great grandmother’s dad is a Chevallier! I could go on for days!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

And you're just referencing the ethnicity percentages from DNA tests. Let's not discuss the errors from poorly constructed member trees or confusing documents. But I'm sure you know that already.

[@susanf915]

This is hilarious. I just watched my cousin add her Gordon in-laws from Westmoreland, PA. Absolutely no relation to the guy in your example.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Oh, that is funny. Thanks for sharing.

[@sycamore1955]

I don't worry about other people's mistakes. Generally they aren't interested and it is not practical to attempt to correct the dozens of people who copied off each other. I spend $$$ and many hours getting the proper information such as certificates and others can't be bothered and prefer shortcuts however incorrect

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I appreciate your sentiments. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[@nickmiller76]

In general, I do attempt to correct the dozens of people who I find have copied errors off each other. My success rate is very low though. I've found most people just can't stand being told they've got something wrong, no matter how polite you are about it.

[@shamusosullivan5650]

People either: not care, not want the truth (might be unfavorable), or have cognitive dissonance. Good luck lol. Thanks for a good video

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Valid points. Thanks for watching. I hope you'll watch more.

[@pierreguertin5033]

I don't care for Thor. All I want is to be descendant of ... (insert below your fantasy) ....

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Ha, ha. Thanks for making me laugh.

[@quadraticone551]

There's like 3000 ancestry trees or more that have some version of Adam and Eve, smh.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yep. And there are other fictional family trees there as well.