Avoiding Mistakes on Ancestry

In this episode we’re learning how to avoid making mistakes on Ancestry.com. Specifically we’re talking about member trees, accidentally creating duplicate ancestors, getting the most out of the hinting feature, AncestryDNA’s ThruLines, and news about your ethnicity estimates.
OTHER VIDEOS
🔴 Fixing Ancestor Relationships on Ancestry.com
• Fixing Ancestor Relati...
🔴 Fixing Mistakes on Ancestry Trees
• Fixing Mistakes on Anc...
🔴Ancestry and FamilySearch Combined for Genealogy Research
• Ancestry and FamilySea...
🔴 DNA Playlist of Videos on Genealogy TV
• DNA
TIMING
0:00 Intro
1:43 Handout information
2:00 Ancestry member trees
3:52 Reviewing member trees for duplicates
5:02 Checking for Sources and Records
6:02 Always check for proof!
6:40 Similar names
7:07 Can I see the source on member trees?
9:22 Don’t automatically import!
9:42 Combined Ancestry Family Trees
11:18 Duplicates from the Member Tree
13:20 Ancestry Hints
15:17 Finding Ignored hints
15:40 Drilling into the records
16:45 How to view the full hint
17:15 Ancestry Search
17:57 Filtering Ancestry Search
20:39 Ancestry Card Catalog
22:05 Removing children from search
22:50 Searching outside of Ancestry
24:50 Ancestry Thrulines
26:23 Duplicates from Thrulines
27:54 Thrulines is not perfect
28:48 DNA Ethnicity Estimates
31:34 Comparing Ethnicity Estimates between years
34:04 Outro
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I am a fanatic for genealogy, family history and DNA to research my American ancestors. I create the best free genealogy videos and webinars on KZbin. I teach the genealogy research skills to help you with your family tree and family origins. I am a professional genealogist; I teach research skills and records research. The best videos on “Genealogy TV” (KZbin) are about learning research notes, logs, staying organized, genetic genealogy, finding missing ancestors, and where to find family history records. Learn genealogy for free and how to research on Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, MyHeritage.com, FindMyPast.com, FamilyTreeDNA, AncestryDNA, 23andMe, Wiki Tree, Geni, National Genealogical Society, National Archives, National and State Archives, genealogical and historical societies genealogybank.com, Chronicling America, Newspapers.com, Newspaper Archives.com, Fold3, Archive.org, Internet Archive, Wayback Machine, Digital Public Libraries, Google, Google Books, Google News, Facebook genealogy groups, and the very best genealogy websites and resources.
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Music Credits for Song on Word Tree Open
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[@dianapocalypse]

Did you like this video? Want to fix some mistakes you already found? Don't miss Fixing Mistakes on Ancestry Trees kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYfZnqKFpLGFatk Keep on climbing your family tree! -Diana, Genealogy TV Team

[@sycamore1955]

I've found many instances in my Tree when parents have more than one child with the same name. Generally because the first died and the name was reused for a sibling.

[@GenealogyTV]

Understood.

[@sweetbabe5465]

Or in my family, they just say go find out if you want. And let us know

[@talentonboard2456]

I would be cool if when ancestry showed the member trees as hints that you could get a box to click and it would populate a list of all the sources from all of them. Then you could just go down the list with your smart filtering on and review them. Most people don’t seem to have sources though. Or they have one. And it looks great but and it is like why did you pick that John Smith when there are 10 others with the same birthdate. My tree has many runaway trains that I have a a seat on. I am slowly going back and adding sources. Thanks this is very good advice.

[@PagingMyPast]

I am brand new and kept thinking I must be missing something as I thought there had to be a way to click on the sources listed by another person. That would be so helpful!

[@chrisbeckstrom6182]

My Ancestry tree is a total mess, I've made so many mistakes. I regard it as a plausible work of fiction. Thanks for your coverage, you're brilliant.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks. Stay tuned. I have a video that might help you coming out in a week or two.

[@janiedurene2286]

This is really a helpful and informative episode. Thank you for doing Genealogy TV.

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Great practical no nonsense advice. Love it!

[@michellepitsch2424]

I look at other trees, but never use them as a source. When first beginning to research, I used them and ended up with a misattributed grandparent in my husband's family. That mistake is still being perpetuated across Ancestry (and hints) and I finally gave up trying to correct people. Anyway, I threw all of my "research" away and completely started over.

[@GenealogyTV]

Oh no. So sorry.

[@marieasparling6717]

I know the feeling. There are so many multiple points of view of who so & so is, when & where they're born, etc.. And I like to use other people's research as an extended research tool. I will takes notes at home on paper, & will then, research each name myself, & I will use a private tree, that only I have access to. This way, I keep all of the heresay, separate from from the facts. So, if my private tree has mistakes in it, it's ok. Because, I'm using it to purposely research mistakes, & use those errors as a way for me to find the truth. Then, I take my research, & add it to my actual tree that I have & share with everybody on my public DNA tree. I find by using A private tree, I'm not misleading anyone about any of this. Just like when it comes to adding things, say from records, I know that not all of the I do on them is accurate. So, I'll take these other pieces of info, & add the errors on them as ALTERNATE INFO. This way, it will say that my grandparents is' names have also been spelled this way or that, etc... Which is helpful in using to find them in other records where there may also be errors. Yet, it's definitely them in the record. I've always found it helpful to use other heresay, & errors to find the truth.

[@sherryledbetter1856]

Thank you Connie! Extremely helpful information, as always! ❤

[@GenealogyTV]

You are so welcome!

[@legacygarage1198]

Great video. I have unfortunetly fallen into all these traps - it is so easy to do. I have an idea for Ancestry - add a visual aid to help identify trees that have been well vetted. Example: On the basis that a birth certificate, marriage certificate and death certificate usually have the parents names listed, it would be great if Ancestry added a "green checkbox" for each (in a easy-to-see place for each person). For me it would be a visual reminder that that I did the research (have the records) and my person is supported with 1-3 of these sources. Not foolproof but it would be helpful and steer me towards those that have done similar due diligence.

[@GenealogyTV]

Interesting thought. Love your image on your account BTW. It would be interesting to add some sort of achievement badges to account that properly source their information. Good idea.

[@arlindanelson7928]

Connie I love that you often go over and explain things I have already noticed and sometimes need further explanations about. Thanks for sharing this and all information that you do. It really is helpful.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@welchhomestead]

Thank you so much! I wish I would have known this a couple of years ago when I started! It seems like a lot of my time now is spent deleting duplicates. I've learned some on my own, but this video has great info and I learned some new techniques. Keep up the good work!!

[@lisaharrington6488]

Thank you for discussing ThruLines. I was not aware of that feature.

[@wendyjohnson1128]

I learn something every time I listen to your videos. THAMK YOU

[@GenealogyTV]

You are so welcome

[@deeparker5782]

Thanks for doing this video! I’m pleased to say I have taken all these points on board over the time I have researched my tree on Ancestry. I have never added other peoples trees as sources and like yourself I do avoid looking at other peoples trees in the hints section. This is mainly because most of them do not cite any sources!

[@suzee_]

This was very informative to me. Thank you . Just sent in my mother's DNA test. She is 91 and we can't wait to get it back ! I'm so glad I was able to get her done . Then I'll do mine soon.

[@suzannemcclendon]

How exciting! I hope your mom's test comes back as quickly as my mother-in-law's did. Hers only took 11 days!

[@janabarnes1791]

Thanks! This gives an excellent work flow that I can share with my niece whom I am mentoring.

[@GenealogyTV]

Fantastic

[@gloriagreen5707]

Thanks for taking the time to help us with building our trees. I also enjoyed your "train wreck clip" and your other animations.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yeah... I got a laugh out of it too.

[@debandrew2802]

Great video, pack with lots of useful info.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks Deb.

[@tracyebrandt3235]

Excellent video - thanks so much!!!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@pivot7897]

Thanks. Very helpful 💯

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it helped

[@mariebsgenealogy]

In regard to the Member Tree Hints--I'm so glad there is a setting under site preferences to turn that off. Not that I won't look at those at some point but like you said, I'd rather focus on the records. Great video! I'm a Knox descendant thru my 5th Great Grandfather James Knox(1713-1787) who married Elizabeth Craig(1718-1822)

[@sycamore1955]

I've got 3rd cousin in Australia who only has other peoples trees as her sources. We descend from Northern Ireland and much that she has is wrong, I've spent thousands of dollars and 50 years researching and obtaining documents, but she is not interested as it is so much easier to copy someone else's errors. For many the number of names on their tree is more important to them than accuracy. My ancestry tree is now private.

[@sr2291]

I know. I hate that. I am looking inside the actual parish records and can see their copy errors.

[@eujackmac]

Thank you for the information. I love your channel. I turned off member trees hints completely. I was getting hints for information I provided that other people put in their trees. I know it was mine because I would use code names and the "hint user" added them to their trees. They didn't even change or update the information.

[@LisaLJD]

Thank you so much for all the good information. I didn't really understand that I'd get more information from searching outside of the hints that are shown. I'm not perfect, but I try very hard to not add something to my tree if I don't see records that go along with it.

[@Oughut88]

Extremely useful video. Thank you! I have come across errors in trees where literally thousands have simply ‘saved’ and not done their research. Often it’s the mother who is incorrect as there were several wives and little research was done to establish which wife was the biological mother.

[@cattails1166]

In my family (early 1900s) quite a few of them started using other names and died with records of the used name not the legal name. This has caused a lot of misinformation when distantly related people are researching these family members, since there is no documentation of name change.

[@giggity2722]

I've had sort of the opposite issue in my family. we had some odd names which people assumed to be nicknames, and so on some self reported official documents like census records near death (when a grandkid or nephew would be taking care of them) a long version or more common name (not americanization at this point in my family) has been substituted more than once. we have legit documentation of the people just having strange names, but i've seen a lot of trees from random cousin matches which list the fake names

[@lesleywatson4494]

Thank you for the warning about trees. I usually go to the other actual tree where I can see the sources and also what the link to my tree is (curiosity) but sometimes I think I will do that later or next time and forget. You have reminded me of the dangers of that so I will not be doing it again unless I have time to go to each tree and check the sources.

[@AdaraBalabusta]

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! This information is vital. We have to think critically about and to correlate the information we find. ❤️ Personal story: Over twenty years ago, a dear relative wrote a book about our family. His research is correct for about four generations, which is excellent. After that, the research is provably incorrect. The incorrect research is all over the online services.

[@nellanddudley]

I'm with you. The fist thing I do is ignore the member trees. Often they're wrong. it's all about the documentation and proof. Great video!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@aprilrowland444]

I will admit, as a newbie, I was a part of that train wreck. :( Years of learning and doing, I now can acknowledge and admit my mistakes. Hence, why I am in the middle of "Going Over" every person in my tree to ensure it's correct. A slow & tedious process, but I am sure it will be worth it in the end. One of the things I have adapted in my process is that I have turned off hints from member trees in my account settings. This prevents them from populating at the top and distracting me. Once I have completed my exhaustive search everywhere else, I will go to "Search, Public Member Trees" and do an independent search to see if there is any rock I have yet to overturn and discover its riches. Thanks so much for this Connie. Your videos & lessons have been very beneficial in making sure I have an accurate family tree.

[@GenealogyTV]

Sounds like you have a great strategy going April. Thanks for your support.

[@suemount6042]

I always go to source So many people get missed off trees by being missed in source records. My first foray into family trees on ancestry I checked everything on the tree I was lucky enough to be allowed to view not much was wrong but no sources other than ancestry was sourced. Also there are records on family search that say they are in the parish but in reality they are not in either parish records or bishops transcripts. With parish records on find my past I’ve looked at the actual registers online because some people were not transcribed in the written part always check the image. This was a great video I’ve learnt a lot thanks

[@jimquam578]

thankyou for your excellent videos, as I watch this video, I usually work the member hints differently, I open the member profile and look at their records to determine if they apply to my ancestor, this gives the picture of document to view vs an abstract, Then I can save the documents that apply or are new to my search. Linda Quam

[@cooperjdcox49]

This was the most important video yet.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@cooperjdcox49]

I wonder what the discussion with Ancestry’s software folks are around genealogy standards. Wouldn’t it be good if they pointed to the best practices on the window. I get so distracted by mistakes in trees. I always want to make correction’s for them.

[@charleshill6364]

Thank you for your hard work on this. I found out the hard way with Ancestry was if you save any records/sources to a profile while you are paid member, once you stop paying and you go to view the records/source that you saved and paid for that you can no longer view them! I do not think this is very nice. Also, I found out they update ethnicity every September.

[@GenealogyTV]

I don't work for Ancestry nor are they a sponsor... and so I'm not defending them.. but understanding that you are not "saving" the record but "attaching a link" to the record to your ancestor is the difference. You can, download the records (during the paid subscription) and keep it on your computer forever. Also know that if you turn on your subscription again, you can see all those records you attached previously. You could do this for just one month and download all you want. I hope that helps.

[@PagingMyPast]

This was so helpful to a newbie like me! It was very helpful to watch you walk through your workflow. Are there any other videos that are similar in working through the process? Thanks!

[@GenealogyTV]

Just about every one I produce walks you through the process. Subscribe (it's free) so that you can follow with me. There are playlists too that group videos by subject. Stick around... there's something I'm coming with that would be of special benefit for beginners. Thanks for watching.

[@PagingMyPast]

@@GenealogyTV I know that now! Lol. I’ve been watching fast and furiously! I love the playlists! You are awesome! It’s a bit overwhelming to be starting out but you break it all down so clearly! Thank you! I have a trip planned to Scotland/Ireland in April and thought I’d do a quick and dirty tree to get to see where my ancestors were from (I know Ireland) so I can make sure to visit those spots, but I’ve since learned that will not be possible - at least not using good methodology and by me! Haha!

[@glallison1]

Thanks, Connie! Long ago when Internet + genealogy was a new, thrilling phenomenon, many of the folks who had been doing family history for years and the old way, visiting libraries etc etc, repeatedly warned about not rushing to copy others’ works. Or not questioning sources. It was likely to cause perpetuating mistakes! Well, weren’t they 100% right! Yesterday I looked at trees in my hints for a distant ancestor (I too look at member trees last) and TWO people had the same exact birth & death dates - my ancestor, who apparently populated a line right down to me, did so in the span of about 6 mos!! Born AND died in like 1840 or something!! Of course it was a typo but now it’s shared, repeated typo. GGGRRR! PS and this is just me whining: I naively did not realize people would copy photos I had entered into my tree, without giving me credit. It just sort of irritates me because I had the books, scanned the pictures, typed extra, specific info (I only showed one child of my great grandmother - my grandfather - for instance), or my trip to the cemetery in TN provided a much better photo of said great grandmother’s marker, and there it is, popping up elsewhere. I do have one distant cousin who credits my photos. Ok, thanks for letting me be a whiny baby here! Excellent, and such helpful info, as usual!

[@alycynde5237]

Rather than reviewing the other member trees from the review panel I'll pull up the person's profile in their tree and look at their sources to see how they've proven that person. I'll then view them on that tree to see the forest Then the same tricks like going through descendants and siblings open up. Definitely agree that simply accepting someone else's "findings" without critical evaluation is dangerous if you're trying to maintain a reasonably exhaustive tree.

[@marieasparling6717]

I agree. Your tree should either, be truthful, or why bother making one. For instance, I have cousins who married cousins, & many times you hear people say, Don't put this, or don't put that, & on & on. But, being my Dad's twin, I believe in either being honest or forever remaining resilient. Because it's either be honest & mature to say it like it is, or it's a laugh. Just an SNL comedy skit. In Dad's tree, I explain honestly why, he's always went by another surname, instead of his genetic one. And before he did his Ancestry DNA test, it was easy for others to brush us off. BUT! AFTER, I got his results on there, they couldn't deny his own personal story anymore. Because as I said to one of his cousins who's a real sweetheart. We were glad to help give her access to his whole tree in the hopes of helping her find out who her biological maternal grandfather was, & she too, asked me about that. Your Dad's legal surname is SPARLING, & his biological father is a MILLEN, yet, your Dad was never adopted? She said? I said, CORRECT YOU ARE! And if that weren't true, his DNA wouldn't match you now, would it? She said, True! I said well, that's our honest story & we stick to it. We can't change the truth, or what choices his parents made & why. It is what it is. Thanks to Ancestry.Com, my Grandpa's friends re his affidavit, & my Uncle Floyd for doing an affidavit both for & with Dad, we can actually say, that we: gave my Dad a legal & genetic sense of identity. Something he never had until the last decade of his now almost 69 years of life. He now has legal proof of who he is, & so do we: hos daughter, son, & grandson too. Love it.

[@BarbGressel]

I had an ancestor that seemed to have two sons named Peter. I just couldn't add the second wife with the second Peter to my tree. I found a document stating that my ancestor, had two sons named Peter. Such a lucky find.

[@desertpatient]

Thanks bunches

[@nancyodonnell5298]

Thank you! I'm going to have to watch again. I didn't know I could right click and get a new screen on a specific record. It's been very time sensitive g. What do you think of Wikipedia genealogy page.

[@kerryjlynch1]

Thank you. I've seen the train wreck at several places in other members' trees. It's more work to dig through records, but it's a lot more satisfying.

[@danielledriscoll128]

Well said. Member trees for my hard to find relative seem to have added without doing enough vetting. Name and event date seemed to be all they looked at. No other source info. Then a few other folks appear to have added from them. I decided not to addd. To continue to find .more evidence. Same with leafs - they have a few dat pointz, but not enough to be sure for living relatives that I know places and timeframe do not align. Take your time do your vetting, delights will follow.

[@andyjwagner]

I had a “train wreck” in several public trees for my 2G Grandmother. It was a combination of common names and somebody confusing a maiden name for a married name and ignoring the documentation available.

[@KCatch22]

As someone new to genealogy, the biggest mistake I think I was making was attaching sources to specific facts when the source was only generally supported. For instance I might have a fact that says someone was born August 5, 1921 and if I found a census that indicated she was born "abt. 1921" I would accept it and attach it to the specific date rather than make it an alternative fact. Afterword, I would click on the fact and think it was well supported by all these sources, and then when I checked the sources I couldn't find any that gave the specific date and couldn't find where I got that information from.

[@JT1358]

I'm always wary of trees from members who have over 50,000 people in them. Gives a whole now meaning to the phrase 'grab-a-granny'.

[@GenealogyTV]

Grab-a Granny... Hadn't heard that one before.

[@suzannemcclendon]

haha You made me laugh with "grab-a-granny', just picturing someone trying to grab my granny. They wouldn't have liked the consequences. :)

[@eujackmac]

😂😂😂

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

I mean it is neat to try to find out links to famous people. Maybe people could have 2 or more trees up. One with what they more solidly know, and the other for exploring.

[@hemichallenger3643]

I'm not very good at remembering if I pointed this out, but MyHeritage had a tree checker and it pointed out silly mistakes I made presumably as a rookie. I wish Ancestry had that. Also, I haven't seen you discuss it as yet, but one of my great detective devices is grabbing the FHL number from ancestry on marriages and births etc. and inputting that into Family search to get photos of the records that ancestry doesn't include. Then I'll snip the screen image and save as *.png file or whatever the extension it is and upload to ancestry so people also have that image. You may have covered it, but I haven't watched every video yet.

[@vjhurstcreations5473]

HEY, Connie,...we both have Jefferson Co, OH ancestors! Mine are from Cross Creek twp.

[@PragmaticPerson]

Makes me want to start my tree all over. Instead I’ll watch your Fixing Mistakes video. Thank you!

[@maggiem4817]

The "locomotive train" analogy for members' trees was very clever, gave me a good laugh. Although I peek at members' trees, I never import them but I have found family pictures.

[@maggiem4817]

I just watched this again. This is one of your best ones ever. So many angles and approaches for working at Ancestry updated. For instance, I didn't know about the "ignore" function actually being stored up above to access later, vice versa.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks for both of your comments. I appreciate it.

[@shasmeen]

Thanks

[@GeorgeJFW]

My dad was born in Greece and his birth certificate was lost decades ago. I am wondering if you have any recommendation to find birth documents internationally. Thanks so much for all your hard work 🙏

[@darlenefarmer5921]

Thank you.

[@GenealogyTV]

My pleasure

[@janetcarlson4923]

As far as children with the same name, you also need to know naming customs in the area before ruling something out. For example in Denmark, children are often named after deceased siblings. So I have sometimes found even more than 2 children with the same name in the same family. I often find duplicates on ancestry when working one line and find a marriage between that line and another line (my maiden name is unique and anyone with it in the US has 1 common ancestor). I will always look for a duplicate person on my tree and merge them. I will also make sure this related spouse is connected back to our common ancestor. I use family search and ancestry and find mistakes on dates and places so always check the sources, not just the indexed one but the actual record. People often mistake a marriage license date with a marriage date.

[@alisoncooper1421]

Similar in New Zealand. It wasn't until I was searching NZBDM records that I found my mother had two siblings she knew nothing about, probably because she was only 6 when her mother died. My mother has the same name as a deceased older sibling. I purchased the birth certificates to verify it for myself, found their graves in a little rural town. My mother was born in 1927,these two siblings were born 1915 and 1916 and during that era those sort of matters were not discussed. Until I showed the certificates to my mother she did not believe it.

[@danblair1591]

I get a lot of potential distant ancestors which I think is possibly wrong? Can’t wait to actually do my DNA to correct things!

[@ElizabethS-wv2ge]

Thank you for the train wreck clip! I have a real locomotive 5th great grandfather (circa 1780- 1830) ancestor that is “the only game in town” on all other trees I see in Ancestry... I mean everywhere! I am convinced the “person” is actually a combination of two different men. Wish me luck, records if they exist, are all from counties burnt in Civil War.

[@raveyhites7179]

The Cite Source option on the edit page (when adding data from another tree) is to Cite that family tree as the source for the data you have added and has nothing to do with the Ancestry records. I always go into the profile page of the ancestor to see where they cite sources and if any are from Ancestry Family Tree, I ignore them as they could be errors copied and copied and copied again. I will write down the data they have and then do the record searching myself.

[@loiscarson5526]

I run across this from time to time, however the further back I go I see family brothers and sister marrying brother and sister and next time I had doubles. So several years I check to see if I have that person already. Great information thank you

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks for sharing

[@elainefiveland1462]

I agree on not accepting the Family Trees from others. SO MANY times I have gotten frustrated when I see the errors, especially when I KNOW the person. And those “two week trial members” are the worst. Start a tree and run away!!

[@sycamore1955]

I've quit trying to correct people when they have the wrong information, they don't like that. Nothing is added to my tree without me being 100% sure of the information backed up with documentation.

[@annafrankmusicofficial]

Well posted

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@natalieahlstrom4045]

@Connie, I'm assuming that there isn't a way to check out the other member tree's sources that they've got listed, or is there? and I've seen so many other trees where they've copied my tree information and when I realized I had made an error in duplicating someone on my tree - wish there was a way to tell them that they've got it wrong! lol.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes you can. It kind of depends on where you are on Ancestry, but you can drill into the member or click on the blue source link in the side panel. It's hard to explain without showing you. If you go to the search panel from any ancestor then into the ancestor above the members name, you'll see their sources. Alternatively, if you go to an ancestors profile and click on hints and where it says Ancestor Member Trees, click Review. Then when it shows you all the member trees that have that ancestor, right under the death date on each Ancestry member, it shows how many sources they have. Click into that tree name to see the sources. I usually right-click and open that in a new tab so I don't lose my place.

[@karendebruyne9592]

I have turned off tree hints. Can still get to them if want to have a look, can sometimes help

[@tracygarcia6406]

Hi Connie. 27:30... How do you know you would be duplicating a person on this page if you import the trueline "relative"?

[@GenealogyTV]

What I do is open up that part of the family tree in one window and this page in another window so I can double check to see if that person is already in my tree.

[@talentonboard2456]

What about the family search site? That seems to populate on its own. I went on there after a long while and my tree is extensively filled in but I know I did not do all that. I assume there are sources. One thing I know is wrong. (The tree went up in the fan view from a second wife not my ancestor) No idea how to correct it. You may have explained this before but it would be great to know how that site does things too. Thanks

[@lesleywatson4494]

Sorry, back again. I find transcriptions are often wrong especially places. I found a record yesterday which did not make sense. I was lucky and was able to access the original and confirmed that the area name had only been partially transcribed. I find that a lot with Scottish placenames where people transcribing perhaps are not familiar with them or the strange spellings which some places have. Some of the writing on the originals can be hard to decipher to be fair. I have done transcribing (not for Ancestry) so I really do appreciate their work.

[@soozieevans7222]

Those hints drive me crazy, especially after I have done all the research and have citing

[@MsSherrydarling]

I find mistakes often happen based on dates of birth and death of names passed down. I’ve seen it mixed up badly with people being married to someone from the previous generation. I am very careful with dates and did find a mistake in one of mine. I had entered 1743 when it should have been 1773. Transcription error. Check and double check

[@SueC56]

FYI - your points are very good, as usual. But just FYI you mis-read the children of JOHN Dunbar as children of ROBERT Dunbar, "implying there is another spouse", when really it was Robert Dunbar's siblings (children of John). Just thought you should know. Thanks for all your work.

[@GenealogyTV]

You're the second person who said that. I went back and looked and I don't see it, but I'll look again. Thanks.

[@michellebarlondsmith6243]

could Ancestry work on their merge button ... if you merge records you can end up with 30 hints ( I think its messing up their algorithms ) thanks for the great tips and educating all of us ....

[@LauriPlaysOfficial]

Small world! My 3rd great-grandfather Michael Brown (born in Ireland in 1794) immigrated to America (by) 1807 and settled in Island Creek, Jefferson County, Ohio! Our ancestors likely knew each other! They moved to Shelby County, Illinois around 1839.

[@GenealogyTV]

Wow... it is a small world. Who knew... my ancestors might have been Irish too. Thanks for supporting the channel.

[@tomlee7651]

I have just under 12,000 names. I very seldom connect to another family tree, unless I check all documents before. Or, I know the tree is an immediate family member. This has been 45 yrs of work, off and on.

[@GenealogyTV]

I hear you. Good job.

[@lesleywatson4494]

Thank you. I am guilty of importing things and thinking I will go back to souurce

[@sherryledbetter1856]

How would you recommend transcribing/translating a document in a foreign language, such as the one in Danish that you found? Thank you!

[@GenealogyTV]

I usually piece it together myself, but you can hire professional translators who can transcribe it for you.

[@shondafeather1795]

At 7:33, you mention that the tree is showing another spouse for Robert S. Dunbar and Elizabeth Dunbar. When in fact it was the other children of John Dunbar (Robert's father) and Elizabeth Dunbar (Robert's mother) with the comment of (siblings of Robert S. Dunbar). It was not implying of another wife.

[@jess_me316]

FYI You can turn off Family Member Tree Hints in Account Settings instead of ignoring them. When you click search on Profile they will still have the family trees there.

[@GenealogyTV]

I didn’t know that. Thanks! See we all learn from each other.

[@craftystash8667]

Another question ⁉️ At what point do you click the tab "Verified"

[@nikkidehart4315]

When I hit a brick wall, If member trees have citations, I will look at those and drop them in my shoebox if I feel they have merit. I never, ever take information directly from a member tree especially since the citations do not come with it. Ancestry is full of erroneous data propagated to the nth degree so I agree wholeheartedly, member trees are a last resort. That said, I would be remiss to not state that, on occasion, I've run into a member tree that inspired new ways of looking at relationships that I thought were concrete in my tree. Rare indeed. Typically I click the ignore button after a cursory glance.

[@GenealogyTV]

Agreed

[@debehmann8791]

I have noticed that at times, a hint disappears when I add a record of some kind.

[@suzannemcclendon]

Connie, I think that second set of children were Robert's siblings, not his children with a second wife. It says in parentheses above them (Siblings of Robert S. Dunbar). It can get very confusing having all of those relationship types on one screen. Sometimes I think they should show us the couple's children on one screen, then have us click to another screen to see the person's siblings. There's just too much going on in one screen as it is.

[@godisloveireland]

I agree suzanne! Well spotted! To confirm, there isnt a 2nd spouse, the other children are Robert S Dunbar's brothers and sisters

[@GenealogyTV]

Yeah... you had me worried. I went back and looked. It was not siblings but suggesting more children from a second spouse. I may have edited something out in an effort to be timely. Sorry for the confusion. Thanks for becoming a member Suzanne!

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@godisloveireland Thank you, John. I was beginning to think that I had imagined it. :)

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@GenealogyTV It shows Robert S Dunbar's parents to be John Dunbar and his wife Anna Elizabeth. At time stamp approximately 7:28, you highlighted where it says "Other Children of John Dunbar and Elizabeth Dunbar", but you read it as Robert S Dunbar. Beside that, it says (Siblings of Robert S Dunbar). Mistakes happen. I get turned around myself and fairly often these days. It is no big deal in the end. The whole point of the video is about avoiding mistakes on Ancestry and this shows how easy it can be to get turned around on their site. You're welcome for the channel membership. You have great information and I enjoy your videos very much. In addition to that, the walk that you've been on over the last year, I am threatened with on a daily basis. David is very ill. I know my time is coming for the journey you're on. Folks in this position need to support each other however they can. I will continue to be a member for as long as I can. On a much lighter note, I like hearing a voice from back home (well, close to it!). :) Keep up the good work! Have a blessed day.

[@nicolefollett7693]

I agree with suzanne and john, the first set are robert and martha's kids, the second set are his siblings

[@suellenw561]

Our daughter asked us (rhetorically) how she could be 99+% German when her Dad & I are less. I told her she just inherited all our German genes. Many of our ancestors (her Dad's & mine) came from Germany, but the rest were mostly from England. Throw in a few Welsh, Irish & Scottish for good measure. But it would be interesting to find where that .02% Sub-Saharan Africa came from.

[@olivevista1]

Hi Connie. I only ever see a max of 3 trees in my hints, is there a way to see more than 3? Thanks

[@GenealogyTV]

Only if other members have the same ancestors. It might be that only three trees have the same folks.

[@BlueMeaney49]

Do a "Search". In the listings on the right, under "Birth/Death/Marriage", etc. it also has a category for "Family Trees".

[@debwilliams611]

Hi Connie how confident are you in "Find a grave" Descriptions? I myself am not sure of their reliability, I can't locate their source material for making their claims.

[@GenealogyTV]

Find A Grave is 100% volunteer run. So you will always want to verify the information with sources. See this video on Find A Grave. kzbin.info/www/bejne/m4HZaaijfNWKgqM

[@BlueMeaney49]

I constantly find errors...many of which come from listings on Ancestry!! If you have the correct info and proof, you can contact the memorial "owner" listed. I have found many of them to be accomodating and grateful for the info.

[@fyreflye100]

I *never* import anything or anyone from other Ancestry trees. I'll click through to the actual trees, look at the profiles and see what sources are attached, then evaluate the info for myself. It's appalling how many Ancestry users will just blindly copy other trees. And Ancestry encourages them to do so!

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

After how many generations, it's hard not to speculate. I get it, to a point it's educated guesses. But there's a couple people in particular where I wish somebody uploaded information if they have it. Because I can't find it.

[@fyreflye100]

@@jeffkardosjr.3825 Yes, it can be very frustrating. For me, I'd rather not add somebody to my official family tree than add someone I'm not sure of. I suppose one could use the "hypothesis" tag on those individuals. Sometimes I'll put people like that on my private research tree, as "floaters" just so I can keep researching them.

[@jasonjase8661]

These companies should have an accuracy rating for the people on the trees. As for other members trees they can be far more accurate than the record search. Especially if it is a generation or three back. I have people that personally know who their parents, grandparents are. If you have nothing less than a very unique name likely you will find records of people that have the exact same name in the same area at the same time. (And no way to tell the difference) Another thing Ancestry as do a lot of these Genealogy sights have loads of glitches. One can find a work around yet for companies this large the should repair them.

[@jamesday5636]

I peep at trees.. but never add them.. I need 2 docs and now thrulines makes it an "ADD" if not then its open

[@tammyflinchum923]

My current mistake or issue is 3 sets of grandparents are doubling in thru lines. I have fixed duplicate records. Support has been useless. Help!

[@jeffpettijohn2344]

In thrulines, why couldn't you add Una Smith to your tree and then merge the duplicate?

[@GenealogyTV]

You could. There are always several ways to do things.

[@craftystash8667]

Is there a way to delete an entire line ? I've made a mistake ( I've done what I shouldn't by trusting a member tree) I kept going for 6 generations!!! Yikes I just want to delete it all.. should I just start a new tree??

[@GenealogyTV]

No! Crafty... just disconnect the relationship. You likely have good work in that line. On Ancestry, from the profile view, to edit relationships. See this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/l33Uq6aIqshjoNk

[@conniemorenzoni7868]

I know what you mean. I usually look as the last thing I do too.

[@tabathasteele7547]

This happened to me and now it makes Thrulines useless past the incorrect person. They have my 3rd great grandfatherand 3rd great grandmother but no source to prove relation (thanks NJ) but my problem with that is she would have been 54 years old at the time of my 3rd great grandfathers birth.

[@Gio_Vanni6143]

George Foreman has 12 children, his five sons are George Jr, George III, George IV, George V, and George VI.

[@cooperjdcox49]

I use ethnicities as a clustering tool for my DNA matches, using the migration regions when you drill into them.

[@GenealogyTV]

Good point.

[@cooperjdcox49]

@@GenealogyTV The estimates change but the clusters by locations are still there. I find this a little better than ThruLines at times. The location as you know often Leeds to common name differentiation.

[@mollys3926]

Could someone please direct me to the video on determining a birth parent from a set of siblings when the descents of the siblings have not tested?

[@GenealogyTV]

I don't think I have a video like that.

[@KimtheElder]

Still watching, but had to pause and say how much the train wreck made me giggle 🤭👏😄

[@GenealogyTV]

Me too!

[@melindaammons5262]

Also I have done my dna through Ancestry.

[@Azoreanislandgirl]

I have a question on the DNA side. When it says that you have common ancestors with this person and shows the last name's for both trees. How accurate are those?

[@GenealogyTV]

Only as accurate as the creator of those trees. Those are member trees, so look in them for records to verify the connections.

[@Azoreanislandgirl]

Thank you !

[@thesearcher118]

Be very careful with Ancestry hints. Always triple check sources.

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Yeah, like when the person you are trying to add is in the 1400s and it brings up somebody in the 1800s.

[@BlueMeaney49]

Or the male was born in 1605 and his wife in 1782!! Also have fond many who died at over 150 years old!

[@deborahleroy5323]

What do you do if ancestry tree is the only clue ? Doesn't the tree connect with the tree of possible relatives?

[@GenealogyTV]

Well I make a note of all the information within the tree (for the area I'm researching) and then use that information to hunt for records to prove or disprove the other member tree.

[@chucknelson1079]

Member trees is the most important hint

[@pampiper8614]

How do I find cremations in my tree

[@GenealogyTV]

Look to the cemeteries in the area where your ancestors lived.

[@judithanderson5898]

How do you handle other members who add your info to their tree incorrectly? I had someone add my grandfather ( and all our family) to their tree as a Sibling to her family, and he never had that Sibling. I messaged them to tell them I was sure it was an error, but have not heard back.

[@elainefiveland1462]

Same here. My mom appeared on another’s tree and I was very upset. I wrote the person and I think it was removed, but not sure.

[@nickmiller76]

Initially I leave a polite note on their tree against the appropriate person. If they don't react, I replace the original note with a more strongly-worded one. If they still don't react, I contact them via the messaging facility and explain it to them chapter-and-verse. Often, they still don't react. Realistically, at that point there's nothing further I can do to help them so I give up and leave them to it. I never remove the note from their tree though, the hope being that other people who come afterwards will not perpetuate the same error.

[@judithanderson5898]

@@nickmiller76 thank you

[@GenealogyTV]

Judith, I ignore others mistakes. Life is too short. I make my tree the best it can be with sources etc. and move on.