Start Your Genealogy Research Right - Avoid These Common Mistakes!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Looking for free genealogy sources? Check out these 7 you might be missing! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jYKZdn-qos2hr7M

[@nunyabiznez6381]

My Mom was Irish Catholic. Her grandparents came to New England from Ireland ca 1900-1905. One set of clues that she left behind that I didn't know existed until she died were a shoebox filled with old mass cards. Every relative that ever died on her side of the family had a mass card and there were around 60 of them. I used information from those that often included obituaries to piece together two additional generations of Irish Ancestors. It turned out that one line consisted of successive generations of immigrants who came to New England to live with a married blood related aunt. That's four generations of aunts who helped the next generation immigrate here documenting our families slow migration throughout the potato famine and up to the early 20th century ending with my great grandfather arriving on the maiden voyage of the Carpathia. So that turned out to be four generations where my ancestors back in Ireland were mentioned in aunt's marriage and death records here in the U.S. Mind you I'm not actually descended from any of these aunts directly. Each one was a sister of someone who stayed behind in Ireland and raised a family there that produced a child who would immigrate here. It still goes on today. My second cousin just sponsored her niece who just immigrated here from Galway a couple of years ago and I am in contact with her Mom now who as it turns out lives in the family home that our Irish ancestors lived in during the pre potato famine period and she helped put me in touch with a relative who helped me trace that Irish line back to about 1730. All because Mom kept a shoebox filled with mass cards that she didn't think had any genealogical value and thus never bothered to tell me about. She whose profession was writing obituaries for a newspaper didn't think obituaries would help me with my search. So one never knows what kinds of records can help in a search. I certainly had no idea mass cards could be so useful

[@peglegpete6656]

I am 82 years old and my memory has gotten so good I remember things that never happened.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

That's a good one! I'll have to remember that... if I can!

[@ytcarol]

I heard a story for years about an ancestor who died young from a parrot bite. When I discovered Find-A-Grave and traced my father's relatives, there was an uncle of my great aunt whose record contained a newspaper obituary. John was bitten by his pet parrot and the infection took him out in days. He was only 39. But I also learned he was a much liked train engineer of the local narrow gauge railroad.

[@ununuh]

I was finding people erroneously attaching people from my tree to theirs without researching that they were truly their relatives. So I put a bogus person in my tree with a ridiculous name and a note saying they were not a real person, this was only a placeholder. After I time I thought the better of doing this and removed the person. But it turned out to be helpful because since then I have come across trees with that name which indicates that the owner of that tree used my information without doing any research.

[@Ggdivhjkjl]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good family history story.

[@nunyabiznez6381]

My Dad had told us when my siblings and I were kids that we had a Spanish ancestor who owned all of Florida at one time. After he died I found a family tree that our late grandmother had put together showing three generations of Spanish ancestors from Florida. I was excited to discover it so I could document the ancestor who once owned Florida. He died when I was 16 and it would be a few more years before I would have a chance to go to Florida and find out more. Meanwhile I searched in New England and from what I read about Florida history, no one person, save the king of Spain, could be said to own all of Florida at any time. So the "family history" that I was told, in the form of oral history proved to be false. But... About 20 years ago I found out that one of those Spaniards in my grandmother's family tree actually did own and control a substantial portion of what was then the colony of La Florida. As it turns out, in 1763, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain. The British controlled Florida for about 20 years ending in 1783 which included the entire period of the American Revolution. When Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain almost all the Spaniards fled, some to Spain, many to Cuba and others to other parts of New Spain. They left their homes, plantations and businesses behind. That's a few thousand people. But two or three Spanish families stayed behind and promised to be loyal to the British. One of them were my Spanish ancestors and that one in particular was a very successful businessman who owned several plantations and businesses in and around St. Augustine. He ended up supplying food to the British and Americans each without the other's knowledge. He continued to run his plantations and businesses without interruption just had a new set of customers. He also had two wives, simultaneously, along with two sets of children in two separate homes, one on a plantation and the other in the city limits. And once upon a time he dressed up as a French prostitute and smuggled in women's clothing to two signers of the Declaration of Independence who were being held prisoner and got them dressed up also as French prostitutes and the three simply strolled out of Fort St. Marks (as the British called it) and out to a waiting ship my ancestor owned and he sailed them right back to the Carolinas where they were from. So this particular ancestor ended up buying up large tracts of land and many homes and businesses owned by his former neighbors and most of the ones he and the other two remaining families didn't end up buying or already owning he controlled acting as an agent on behalf of the fleeing former residents of La Florida. So that ended up being that long ago grain of truth that was turned into a family myth. It turns out that for roughly 20 years one of my ancestors owned or managed more land and properties and businesses and homes than any other individual and that constituted roughly 20% of what the British called East Florida, the most populated (with Europeans) part of Florida. So my ancestor turned out to be a far more interesting character than my Dad would have ever imagined. Not ever actually owning all of Florida but to one of my ancestors in his youth it might have seemed that way so that is the way it was passed down to us. I have learned that not only should one take oral history with a grain of salt, one should also take it with an open mind and a willingness to track down the origins of that oral history. Another story passed down was about how an ancestor was slaughtered by Native Americans and blood was spilled on a boulder and stained that boulder red which no one has ever been able to clean off said rock. I had thought for many years it was just a completely made up myth until I found out that sometime in the 1690's and in connection with widespread unrest among a couple of New England tribes there was an ancestor killed by a Native American and whose body was left on a large boulder and that that the boulder was red in spots and the colonists thought it was blood stains on the rock and locally was known as "Massacre Rock." At some point in the 20th century the rock was investigated since there were a number of supernatural claims about the rock and it turned out that it simply contained natural mineral deposits that made the rock appear red when dry but black when wet so when the colonists tried to clean the "blood" off it it would seem clean when wet but when it dried the "blood" came back. Our line hasn't lived in that town since 1750. so that's over 200 years the story was passed down orally and fairly intact. Another more recent oral history told of an ancestor who was like Edison and had hundreds of patents and an extensive laboratory where he invented things. I found out, long after Dad died, that we did indeed have an ancestor who had patents. But not hundreds. He owned a saw mill in New Hampshire and was innovative in the machinery that he used to turn raw longs into usable building materials. He was active circa 1840-1880. He had five patents to his name and did indeed have a workshop and I found advertisements for his saw mill that both cut lumber for a fee and sold lumber. Not like Edison by any stretch as it seems he really didn't make much money from the patents in terms of selling inventions but I guess it prevented others from using the same process to efficiently produce building materials. In any case a good example of oral history originating from something truthful yet somehow getting altered along the way. More recently I helped a friend find his ancestry. He was born in Jamaica and the claim was that his grandfather was a pirate, an actual pirate of the Caribbean. The truth is that is great, great grandfather, roughly 140 years ago was in fact an actual pirate. Not the swashbuckling kind mind you. He was convicted of stealing a small boat and using it to go from dock to dock stealing fishing equipment and using it to catch fish for himself. The charge was piracy though the facts kind of sucked the romance out of the whole matter. But later in life he ended up as a preacher and married a woman from Portugal who it turns out has real connections to Portuguese nobility roughly 200 years ago.

[@christianramirez7979]

Wow! Absolitpry amazing and thorough family history, you should make a book lol

[@michelinefortuin9110]

Fascinating!

[@cgeorge6591]

“Attaching a Family Tree can really mess things up”. Ever since Family Search allowed people to change my tree which we spent 45 years on has made it very difficult to keep things straight. Most times now I just throw up my hands and say “Forget It.”

[@barbarapugh9775]

I know just how you feel.

[@nickmiller76]

One of my absolute golden rules is that I will never ever put my family tree anywhere where other people can modify it.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

The FamilySearch family tree can be frustrating, for sure!

[@elainemilligan9086]

I have also had the same problem. A question of where I think too people are father and son and others think they are brothers. Their headstones are beside each other with wives in a field where cattle are. Where three of them died within 3 weeks of each other.

[@user-pn3ly6sl1e]

That must be so frustrating. I may have i wittingly messed up something on someone else's tree when I first started online. Now I don't touch anyone else's stuff. We have all our data on Family Tree Maker. No one can access it but our immediate family. Eventually, we may post a public tree, but no one will ever get to mess with our original work.

[@johndoylemc]

I started my family search in 1967 - b.I. (before internet.) I was self-taught. In the beginning, I did not know to record locations of records, something that came back to haunt me later. I told a cousin what I had found, and he said I had everything wrong. (several years later he told me the very same info, which I told him I had already given him said info!) NOW: i try to document EVERYTHING and record source!

[@Firearcher4]

Even original records have mistakes in them and some are often hard to spot. Spelling mistakes are common but sometimes the wrong parent's name is placed on a birth record in a church register. Census records are filled with errors too. I have about 50 years of genealogical research.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Yes! Just because it's written doesn't mean it's correct. Evaluation is key.

[@elainemilligan9086]

If you look at my husband's birth certificate you would think that his dad was born in a different year. It has him the wrong age. His birthday is one day from his sons.

[@Firearcher4]

@Olivia K It is one aspect of it yes. You can have 2 churches side by side, one with a German speaking pastor and the other English. William McLean in the English will be Wilhelm McLean in the German, or Friedrich Schmidt a German man, suddenly becomes Frederick Smith in the English. If you find , and I have on occasion, a minister who makes the distinction between the cultures you have a person dedicated to accuracy. Finding out who the informant was on a death certificate is a factor as a child should be more accurate when giving info on a parent than a total stranger. Having said that, a number of children report incorrect facts on a death certificate about their parent.

[@janrogers8352]

Back in the day when many people were illiterate they wouldn't have been able to correct spellings. Add to that the fact that the person speaking could have a strong accent compared to the one recording the information, so if they misheard the name, they would write what they thought was being said and errors also creep in when the names aren't commonly used ones for that area.

[@sycamore1955]

Ages at death are often wrong because the person registering the death has only an approximation of their birth year. My cousin told me my father was a certain age, but it was wrong and I know as I have a copy of his birth certificate.

[@tdutahdebate]

I have fallen into that trap of "this must be the right records" until I realized that they had a different parent listed in another record which made my tree confused about where I went wrong. I started my tree over then found the error. Now I wait until I find at least 3-4 other records proving that lineage before adding a new person to my tree. I question those people who have 100k+ people on their trees and have only been doing research for 2-3 years, I have been doing research for 40 years and only have 5505 people on my tree.

[@StrawberryFieldsNIR]

I think some of those newbies just add any suggestion made by Ancestry, without verifying and proving the connection - I probably reject about half of Ancestry's suggestions. You are right though, always try to get another two or three other sources to verify, and bear in mind, even 'official' records can have mistakes, I will say particularly death records where the informant mis-remembers or does not know, but has a guess at the information.

[@qashqai124]

In the late '70s, My father lived in the Southern Part of Indiana. There he would go to graveyards, court house, churches and interview the older members still around. He took volumes of notes. During this time, I lived in Philadelphia. I would go to the local branch of the National Archives for 2 hours a week. I would scan through the microfilm of the U.S. Census. Looking at these films for Southern Indiana in 1850 to the latest one available. We were researching about 8 names, 4 on each side. If I saw one of those names in the census, I would create a Family Sheet for them. In a couple of years I had over 300 of them. When I ran across the same family in the next census, I would update the old sheet. Then they closed the Philly Branch. I purchased a software package. By the time I had entered all the family sheet data for those that I was sure were related, I still had over 100 that I couldn't use yet. Since then, I pull out the Promising File every year and see if any more of them not fit into my tree. Maybe 4 each year get promoted. Dad passed on in 1983. I got all his notes. About half of them were not in the tree when I got them. About 75% of them are now. Last week, in reviewing Dad's notes, I found 2 more families that had given me fits. His notes occupy 8 three ring binders an inch thick. I never through paper notes away. I find things every month that I can't believe I missed the 10th time I looked at it.

[@carolwong5949]

I have been researching my Indiana family on and off since I was 20. I found information about one of my ancestors who was a guard in the Civil War. He had to be outside on top of the train car that held Confederate soldiers. I wrote the National Archives for information. I got a reply that his wife has applied for a pension bases on his service but the stuff in his file was not important. I replied that I still wanted copies of it and Oh my! What a treasure trove! Letters from him to his wife, from his wife, from his neighbors and learned that he kept catching pneumonia, was sent the hospital to recover and then they put him back on top of the train again, pneumonia again. This happened about three times, he spent a good deal of the war recovering from pneumonia. Anyway, there were a lot of interesting details and he eventually returned and was never again in good health.

[@anneirenej]

Omg thank you. My mother who compiled a lot of the family ties in our families.. she believed you had to check and recheck. You need to verify every name on the census. She found several families with similar names. People are too trusting of those websites.

[@traceybradshaw]

Oh my goodness - this should be compulsory viewing for anyone considering online family tree research. You have verbalised everything that my fellow researching cousin and I lament about often when we come across so many mixed up trees that contain our ancestors with incorrect spouses, children, dates and places. Then it’s perpetuated by people that practice genealogy by copying everyone else’s trees verbatim, not adding or checking sources or adding all of the hints without checking them 😱 I am saving this to share with every fledgling family tree researcher I come across - thank you for your words of wisdom 🥰

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

[@eleriloki6275]

When I research my family tree I always have my calculator up. That way I can check to be sure the ages of the person I'm researching are correct. For example, I found a marriage record with one of my great + ancestors name but the date would have him married at age 8 if the record pertained to him. An obvious ignore. Also in Ancestry if I look at other trees I check the records they have first to see if they coincide with my records or if they are relevant to the ancestor I am wanting to attach it to.

[@janrogers8352]

I had the same thing happen to me on ancestry. A couple married when she was 8 giving birth to her first child at 9. No records listed and only one source - they had copied someone else's incorrect information without bothering to make basic checks.

[@johndoylemc]

I had a cousin tell me we were related to Alexander Hamilton. I was happy about the "info" until I tried to confirm it. The problem I had, after checking out competent research, was he had us descending from one of Hamilton's sons who died before he had any children!

[@dutchman7623]

I was asked by a cousin to bring the family tree of my aunt 'up to date'. Read: we have a little bit of data, please check it and complete it. His father and my mother were brother and sister, so my aunt was only a 'in law' part of me. But I started and had very simply checked all data and went further back in time. Until I recognized family names and first names that were 'familiar'. One ancestor family of my aunt looked the same as I had seen before when researching my father, but there were mismatches. Same names, same time, same village... Couldn't find any mistake in my fathers tree, nor in my aunts. But going one generation back in both trees, brought to light that the fathers of both families were brothers and named their kids almost the same, and the same as the generation above them. The two brothers named their kids after their own brothers and sisters! Very confusing because now I had three couples with kids with the same first and last name. My father and my aunt were related already in 1620 to 1650! It was a very nice puzzle to get everyone in their correct position.

[@ameliafroehlich2577]

Sometimes I check other trees when I'm having trouble with mine. Several times they have no records at all. They just attach someone else's tree. I hope that makes sense. It drives me crazy.

[@dutchman7623]

@@ameliafroehlich2577 It gives so much more satisfaction when you can illustrate your research is done correctly. And many records contain details like 'god-mothers or god-fathers' or witnesses that bring you further.

[@dallasarnold8615]

Years ago a book of Gwinnett County Families was composed by the Gwinnett Historical Society. We thought this would be a great resource for others ( we, that is my wife and I, had already done a lot of research ). But quickly found numerous errors that we knew to be absolutely contrary to fact. One which we physically went to the Historical Society's author was that it showed my grandfather's 2nd wife as the mother of my mother, which was wrong. He did not even marry the 2nd wife till I was already 14. Of course, the book was already out and we could not fix that, but we wanted their records corrected, which they refused. So, I took my mother over there who was known personally by the author and it got corrected. But how many people out there are working off of that misinformation, as well as the errors that we don't know about.

[@matthewdavies2057]

I had a similar situation. An adopted cousin who believes she took her adopted father's name and DNA. No kidding.

[@melaniecarver5719]

​@@matthewdavies2057 Wow! That's new one. By what sorcery was this supposed to happen?

[@matthewdavies2057]

@@melaniecarver5719 She bumped her head?

[@sharontabor7718]

Thank you. I've been telling people this for years, but because I'm not "credentialed" as a professional genealogist, no one listens. The biggest compliment I've ever received was from someone who emailed mw with the statement "I can always trust what I find on your tree'. I don't attach documents to my online trees because much of my research was found prior to the era of armchair genealogy and resulted in documents found in archives and courthouses that have not made it into cyberspace.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Having someone say they can trust what they find in your tree is a high compliment, indeed!

[@nickmiller76]

A lot of my documents are not available online. I scan them and attach them to my trees that way.

[@chalktalkwithshari4173]

Don’t forget about family Bibles. People used to be diligent about recording births, deaths, and marriages (sometimes along with newspaper clippings and programs).

[@samanthabloggins1775]

Im 69 i started my famly tree when i was in grade 7 here in Canada!! And i am still not finished it takes a long time and a lot of work and research!!

[@jeff0125]

The craziest thing I've come across in my research that reminded me of the importance of verifying that you're dealing with the correct person, rather than someone with the same name, happened a few years ago. I had recently figured out the identities of my father's birth parents, and was researching his ancestors. His grandfather and another man had the same name, same date of birth (14 Feb 1877), both were born in Poland/Austria-Hungary, and both emigrated to tiny Washington County, PA, outside of Pittsburgh. I was getting confused because of small inconsistencies, but eventually found an immigration record for the "other" one, whose wife had a different name, and also separate WWI draft registration cards, at different addresses in Washington County. The other one remained in western PA and died a few decades earlier than my great-grandfather, who moved to Philadelphia where my dad was born.

[@nikkita1688]

I'm living this. Thought I found the ww1 card of a ggg father and saw he tried to be exempt from the draft, but wasn't the right guy. Still searching....

[@patriciasinclair3210]

I am just starting out on my journey, and as i was adopted at 6 weeks it is quite difficult as i do not know who my father was. I do know my mothers name and can trace quite a lot of her family, however your comment about not taking for granted things in other peoples trees is very relevant as they had me down as 'deceased' They had taken my first name and my mothers married surname , which are on my birth certificate , even though her husband wasn't my father , put the two together and found a record for that person who had obviously died! I have always kept my adoptive surname and subsequent married surname, so there is no way anyone could trace me, and as you see i am very much alive and kicking!

[@isabelleblanchet3694]

In some places, people have added siblings that don't exist to my grand-mother. My grand-mother is 95 and when I showed her that she said "That's bullshit, if my mother had had more children I think I would know."

[@StrawberryFieldsNIR]

Unless maybe they were still births or died very young, then never spoken about?

[@RustyWalker]

Transcriptions all need verifying against the original when possible. I'm using FindMyPast to research here in England, and though I'm sure the transcribers all did their best, they don't know who these people were or where they came from. They do appreciate submitting error reports for mistranscriptions too, so future researchers can find what they're looking for. Caveat: they specify error reports are for mistranscriptions only, not for perceived factual errors in originals. That's not their function.

[@StrawberryFieldsNIR]

Most definitely view an image of the original document when available. Not just for errors, but sometimes there are nuggets of information in that record that have no field in the transcription database.

[@macbirt56]

I've been doing Genealogical research for over 30 years and this is the most valuable video I've seen. Sooooo many people make the very mistakes that you are warning people not to make. I'm so happy to see that I am not the only one who sees this. When I go to the videos sponsored by the major websites, they NEVER acknowledge that people make mistakes and that other people just copy them and perpetuate the mistake. I agree about using other people's Family Trees for reference but I would add that you should make sure you look and see what references they used. If their tree has no references, then it's most likely that they got their info from someone else and it should be highly scrutinized. Now that my daughter told me about your social media sites, I have to catch up on all your posts. BTW, she saw one of your TikTok posts but when I went to your website, there wasn't any mention of a TikTok account.

[@knockshinnoch1950]

This is excellent practical common sense advice. When's tarting out it's so easy to get carried away in a buzz of excitement by all the hints and information that pops up. Too many folks do just accept everything at face value and end up creating "fantasy" trees rather than "Family" trees! If you're not careful you may just end up spending hours days weeks and months trying to unravel the confusion. I compare this lack of basic fact checking as the equivalent of those folks who can be seen at historic archeological sites with metal detectors every weekend who dig up important artefacts and mess everything up. Too many folks in the future who undertake the task of researching their own roots may well have a serious tangled mess of data to deal with.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thanks for the kind words -- glad you enjoyed the video! You're so right about "fantasy" trees. Some of the sites make it almost too easy to just attach things.

[@wuverrabbit]

But sometimes "fantasy" as i've created with random hunches "could they be?" actually following the trails of others lead me back to the fantasy i created. And thankfully, i also had 2 DNA distant matches to it too.

[@ksbrook1430]

In doing research on my father's side of the family, I inherited a copy of work done by one of his cousins. When I looked on-line, I found many family trees of my ancestors that repeated errors due to common first names. I've only found one site that was correct and consistently careful in verifying and documenting the information. I agree with you - other family trees can be good for clues, but should not be taken as necessarily correct.

[@joanwood9480]

I have a copy of a geneagogical record which my great aunt put together. She was able to speak to her older relations so her record of dates and names are pretty well accurate. She added little details when available such as this one died in a house fire or that one drowned. She admitted when she was unable to verify births, deaths, or names. I cherish the work that my great aunt did and the fact that she actually traveled to Gorsuch Mills MD from Illinois to verify family information

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

What a treasure!

[@fabianmckenna8197]

​@@AmyJohnsonCrow My French father translated into English a document detailing our French and Belgian ancestry written by my great grandmother. Only found it when he passed away which makes that sidd of the family tree a lot easier to deal with as French certificates are held in the individual towns or cities of birth etc. Interestingly enough, the French birth certificate has details of the marriage entered as well as the death details so everything comes on one sheet. First of all I had to send off a request to his French birthplace for a certified copy of the birth certificate which also contained his marriage and send that off to the French Embassy in London along with his death certificate to have it transcribed and translated into French. On return of all those documents, they were then forwarded back to his place of birth to update their records .

[@landonedwards7504]

Your comments are spot on. It's a shame that so few people actually search records, either to learn something new or to validate what they think is true. I've discovered, sadly, that people are a lot more gullible and lazy than I ever thought. Many people consider Ancestry trees or IGIs at Family Search a "record." They even cite these! The majority don't seem to care when mistakes are brought to light, or discrepancies noted. It never occurs to most people that families didn't just pick up and move around, county-to-county, or state-to-state until well after WW II. If the last name is correct, it must be my family. Don't get me started!!

[@traceybradshaw]

Oh I hear you loud and clear and talk about this regularly with other researchers.

[@janrogers8352]

It depends on where you are. Here in the UK many families moved around more than people would expect. The Industrial revolution, or other major events caused many to leave the land and head to the cities, you need to factor in their occupations. I have ancestors, one a stone mason and another a brick maker, both of whom moved from different parts of the country, to London for work back in the 1800's.

[@traceybradshaw]

@@janrogers8352 I know what you mean Jan, I use maps constantly when researching, but also check the occupations. It’s when nothing matches except the name and people have them jumping back and forth across the ocean in very short spaces of time with different family members etc. I have ancestors also who moved to where there was work available - from Kent and Norfolk to Northumberland for ship building, others from all over who went to Portsmouth as Seamen in various roles, military roles in Malta and India where their wives accompanied them and they had children - but the records match.

[@sharris2118]

I just discovered old notes I made when my mother was in early dementia. I'd forgotten I put them on Ancestry and I just discovered the details of places and names of the house she was evacuated to in 1939 at the start of WW2. Hoping to find her and her carer in the 1939 English registry (similar to a census and used for rations and more), I looked without luck. I put the name of the house and address in a Google search and surprise, there was a photo of the old abandoned house, now part of a golf course! It was near a famous archeology site she waked past every school day where they were digging up an old ship and treasures, just as she told me.

[@jenniferdoyle9493]

Thank you sooooo much for making this video! You've addressed every concern I've had, ever since discovering so many errors in the family trees that my own relatives have constructed. Your excellent video makes me realize I am not alone! I never attach a record to my tree until I've cross-referenced several records of the person I am researching and am absolutely certain that the record is indeed relevant.

[@reneedominguez3633]

My grandmother always claimed that her grandmother was a Hawaiian princess. We always snickered about that. Well, when I did my DNA ,I am 2% Polynesian. I don't know about the princess part but thec Hawaiian part is apparently true. 🤣🤣

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Sounds like some fascinating research is in store for you!

[@cathyhawes6921]

This was very helpful, I am trying to keep my curiosity intact! I have a cousin who has endlessly merged family trees on a genealogy website to the extent that our great grandmother has 107 siblings!!!! Clearly ludicrous.

[@bellelove7396]

I can attest to the going back to your notes sometimes we forget about. My grandmother provided a wealth of information so those notes are truly invaluable.

[@behunin1963]

Love your video. Am going through exactly what your discussion has been about. No sources, sources incorrectly attached, reattachments of known incorrect genealogies by kids going off old but incorrect paper family sheets, etc. Also, people creating based on a desire to not be irrelevant as a family member. Too many opportunities for failure. Thx

[@kathrynsterk1545]

WOW!! Everyone working on their family history needs to watch this video....outstanding.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thank you , Kathryn! I appreciate that.

[@webrarian]

As a fairly experienced genealogist, I am delighted with the wise words of your video. Full of the most excellent advice, and beautifully delivered, too. You are so right about the need to return to early research to check it. We generally start our own trees with those closest to us and then move on. But when we start we are also inexperienced and it's so easy to make mistakes at that stage, potentially rendering whole parts of the tree incorrect. You've got yourself a new subscriber from the UK ;-)

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thank you! I appreciate your kind words.

[@lindaeasley5606]

I find it helpful to have ancestors who repeated given names ,surnames as middle names. It makes it easier to find a link to your line. This is was the pattern on my dad's male line

[@anonfornow359]

Ive just started again after many years. Ive found its so easy to get off track. Im going back now and getting documents step by step from newest to oldest generations. One thing I also find helpful is spotting family names you know go through the family especially when you have more than one choice and arent sure which one matches

[@StrawberryFieldsNIR]

For newbies, always try to view an image of the original record if possible. Sometimes there is additional information that can be extremely helpful going forward. Back when I started, it was mostly microfiche and microfilm, and although not indexed, a lot of images of original records. I still have a microfiche reader, LOL.

[@andyw.3048]

Such a helpful video for beginners! On time I found a line going back as far as the 16th century, but apparently there is one generation or two missing, during the 30 year war in 17th century Germany. It frustrates me to this day, because I have no clue how to find these rare records!

[@Kari_B61ex]

I agree with everything you've said. One example: I have a 3x Great Grandfather who is my brick wall, he was born in 1791 according to his Census and death records Others have entered his birth and (parentage) 12 years earlier in 1779 (with no records to prove - just from other Ancestry users) I have a suspicion that he was base-born 20 miles away. I just have to work out how his mother was related to the family living in the area he lived and died in (but wasn't born in). I've been researching my ancestry since 2009 and won't ever add anything until I have at least two confirmed records as proof positive. An interesting find on my 3x Great Grandfathers parish death register is that there was an 'alias' which he also gave to his firstborn son. I have lots of detective work to do.

[@elainemilligan9086]

I also have one where his head stone could say 1791 or maybe 1779. Things can get mixed up, or too old to read.

[@CalifgalCindy1]

All great tips, we had an experience with a very common name of William Davis with totally different paths across the continent and boy was it a mess getting those two untangled. Making it worst was we kept getting other people getting them crossed up and trying to latch on to our real line after we got ours correct. For us the lesson was learned and working not 5o make that mistake again.

[@ip372]

we like very much how calmly you speak and what knowledge you have, great video

[@roslynechivers36]

Yes! I already do all those things you said to get things right! I find Ancestry is a place where there’s so many mistakes because I go look for the original records myself and different information. I am in Australia and there are several records on Ancestry for my aunty’s relative and all incorrect as I am the only person who found his convict record and it was under a different name because he changed it but it has he was resentenced under the new name on the record. Only reason I found it as he used his original surname as his middle name on his marriage certificate and I looked under that name instead and all his convictions and transportation records popped up and lead me to his baptism! All the family is running around with the wrong name! But a bit late now!

[@janetcarlson4923]

I often find that people often miss vital information in records. For example, obituaries often give marriage, divorce, and burial dates yet when you look at that person on someone's tree it is missing yet they had the source listed. So I like to to look at sources myself. Once, by doing so, I found information on a totally different person that proved a family story.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

You're so right! It's easy to look at a document and pull out the one fact that you were looking for, and completely miss some good information. Going back and looking at records we already have can yield big results!

[@noelle7287]

I'm definitely guilty of doing this and learned the hard way. Some possible family members have same first and last name and were born around similar times. I'm still trying to figure who is related and how. On my paternal grandmother side I didn't have anything but finally found a break and starting point when I found out the exact city she was born in. I found the department she was born in numerised archives. Then looked through birth records for that year. Not only did I find her birth record I found her parents marriage record on same document as well because they got married the same year. I've since went back a few generations and using those archives. Found so much info since my breakthrough. I take my time and enter all info into different people my tree that it pertains too. I also take screenshots. That way when I put it on ancestry I can see it zoomed in too. It's awesome to find things and I'm making sure it's accurate. Makes me feel like a detective. I've lost a lot of sleep because I'm so much into researching.

[@schnooleheletteletto]

Ive been doing research for about almost 10 years now and on my ancestry page Ive noticed that its really common amongst users from the states to just add random people to their tree which makes a mess. Comparing it to the swedish people who do research people actually seem to do the job of looking into things. Many americans who have "copied" my tree I realized they have no relations whatsoever to the people they are adding since its obvious to me being swedish things dont make sense. I dont know why this is a common thing in the US

[@Irresistible_Light]

I absolutely love this video! You said everything that I am always preaching about to other family members that want to research but they are not really researching. I am so glad that you made this video!!!

[@barbaramoignard6082]

This is excellent advice. On Ancestry I have found my father and his parents tagged on to a stranger's family tree. They seem to have made the assumption that only one person of my grandfather's name could have moved from Ireland to England. I've found similar mistakes with other family members.

[@denisewhite8373]

Oh my gosh, I am making a lot of mistakes. I was a bit worried about attaching other family trees to mine but now I can see that I shouldn't do that. I will watch more of your videos to learn more. I think I will start from scratch with my new database, Roots Magic, and see if I wind up the same place as my Ancestry tree. Thank you for your videos.

[@catf9223]

Another thing to look for is transcription errors. A lot of these websites are transcribed by volunteers that have problems reading the writing so you may be looking for a Harris but the website shows it as Hanis. Definitely makes it harder to find.

[@somewhereupthere785]

I was able to go back 400 years on a line. I started out with just the name of my maternal great grandmother. The thing that helped the most was the Tanguay Genealogical Dictionary of the Founding Families in Quebec. I live here and it seems my family never left, ha! Also, Catholics keep fantastic records.

[@anneahlert2997]

One of my Genealogist friends is now dealing with some very old Quebec lines. She found a record that indicates Native ancestry, but all the names are Christian, for a few generations back. It turns out the Micmac tribes of that area were quick to embrace Catholicism, marry the Acadians/white people, and rename themselves with Christian names. Just in case that helps with your research.

[@somewhereupthere785]

@@anneahlert2997 That's funny you bring that up. My mom's side has lots of French, but my dad I found out was Métis. So I sent in a request with St-Boniface in Manitoba and found my native lineage. It was women on the vast majority that married Catholic, got a christian name to marry and named their children with Christian names. I found lots of documents. Here in Quebec, if you can find your line into Tanguay's dictionary, you can get a lot of info from there.

[@thistlemoon1]

I found family in Quebec also! The son emigrated to Georgia. It was a little easier because of the unusual spelling of the last name.

[@somewhereupthere785]

@@thistlemoon1 Oh that's cool! Ancestry is the best thing to happen to the internet.

[@anneahlert2997]

@@Arhimith If the DNA matches the paper trail, then you can.

[@stevenm.9458]

Great advice. Thank you! One of the reasons I keep my tree private - because I know I have some mistakes and I don’t want that mistake reproducing.

[@lkksu4]

The merging of family tree advice is very valuable. I have seen a number of family trees with mutual family members and incorrect data that would have caused major heart ache if I’d just automatically merged the record to my tree.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Merging trees has caused so much heartache!

[@glennelliott708]

Agreed. It is frustrating when one sees obvious mistakes copied from one tree to another. Even if one has first hand knowledge to correct the error, other sites show no interest to hear the arguments. Guess the only option is to make sure yours is correct.

[@joemaae5915]

I was impressed how u explain the way we find genealogy in our family 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇦🇸🇼🇸

[@edwardfarnsworth5915]

The video title caught my attention, because I am interested in starting my research right. Instead, this was about mistakes some people make. But, that doesn't start my research right.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

It's by avoiding these mistakes that you'll get your research off to a good start. In other words: look at the records and what they are really telling you. Don't blindly attach other people's trees. Don't assume everything you've heard about your family is correct.

[@lindacarroll6896]

When I started doing genealogy, my aunt offered to help. She had been working on it randomly but was recently retired and lived near a genealogy library. She had, also, been to some of the places our family lived and looked for records. Turns our she had collected a few non-family members along the way. But the one I can forgive her for is when she visited the county clerk and she told her a number of family tales that later turned out to be just tales. I mean, the county clerk should know, right? Even as a new researcher I knew you did not collect every person with the same surname. Especially one sentence in a history book that might refer to someone you were related to.

[@katpaints]

Being of Norwegian descent, it is hard to sift through. So many in the same area have the same name. Until 1900, the last name is the father’s first name plus sen or datter plus there is the farm name. It is rare but there are also Last Names, which can be picked up and dropped. I was a part of a ‘list’ when I started this back in 1999 and for a few years and they helped me a lot for part of the family. It has been a tradition to record family stories in the area’s book. There are missing official records that my great great grandmother brought to Dakota Territory - and burned in front of them. Broken English wasn’t clearly understood by the youngest. Most of the stories I grew up hearing were wrong or hard to prove. I have to laugh! But in the 1930s, the CCC looked for people who were adults living in Dakota Territory and they interviewed them. I knew about those interviews and got a copy. That helped a lot in proving/disproving family stories. It has been fascinating!

[@rockyroad7345]

YES, the biggest mistake I made in the beginning was using information on other people's trees. In addition, just a few generations back people were often married more than once, due to death, war, etc. It's important to find out which of those marriage partners is your ancestor.

[@metrower42]

Enjoy your presentations so very much and learn from them. You are very good at explaining things in easy to understand terms. Thank you! Keep up the this good work.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Thank you very much for the kind words! I’m glad you’re finding these videos to be helpful!

[@benjaminlewis671]

I just want to say you are doing a great job at helping us. I knew most of what you are saying, but the little bits I didn't have really helped put it all together. I'm lost on Andrew Jackson Lewis, I just need more confirmation before I continue backwards to Virginia then Wales (I think).

[@stephenbartholomew2328]

Ok, so I should have perhaps listen to this first before thinking I was a genius, too fast then getting over excited with the information, followed closly by adding in the information from another familty tree, not looking at the information correctly. Had to start all over again, plus put the person right who I imported from when I found out the correct information. This is so worth the ten and a half minutes of listening. Advice go slow cross reference and check again.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Don't feel bad -- we've all had our times of going too fast and over-excited with our family history!

[@LennyLacey]

I am bran new to this, and pretty lost. But i am so excited and having so much fun. Your video was amazing, calming and helpful. thank you

[@fabianmckenna8197]

Just start at the very beginning....... You, your parents, their parents etc, etc, etc. Look for certificates and documentation to prove what you enter on your tree.

[@laurathomas3878]

Clear and concise. Thank you for not rambling on and on with what could have been said in half the time.

[@davidbagley1783]

Aloha

[@shaunalea823]

My father was always told by his grandfather that they were related to Aaron Burr though he didn’t know exactly how. His cousin later down the rd did that part of the family history and claimed it wasn’t true. My father for the past 5yrs has been doing our family tree and did find indeed we are first cousins of Aaron burr through his uncle Peter burr.

[@PassportsandPostcards]

Amy, I have been working on my family genealogy for over 40 years and got stuck with my father's side as I can trace my roots from Toronto back to Quebec or upper New York State. There was and still is a strong Irish community however trying to contact churches to find records is impossible as many of the churches burned and any records have turned to ash. When I work on my family tree, I look for at least three records that tie into the individual. As we go back there are fewer records, however, the database gets smaller and smaller because there were fewer people back in the 12th and 13th centuries. When I put my records together, I always put a disclaimer. "The information is based on information that I have found and if you wish to see any of the records, contact the author. Thanks for your video.

[@sylvainroy9509]

Very very good and sound advice. Knowing those errors that researchers make can also instill doubts when you cross too easy answers to your research.

[@marksadler4104]

When I started my family tree (UK) over 20 years ago, a family story I heard was an ancestor who was a Royal navy officer married a lady from Cadiz. I'm half Spanish so an extra Spanish line from my English ancestry would be interesting to pursue. After all these years, no luck whatsoever 🤨

[@janrogers8352]

I have a family in my tree, that moved from Plymouth to London (Greenwich) all because the head of the family had a job working for the Navy. So your ancestor may have been in Cadiz when they met and married but that doesn't mean she was Spanish. Her family could have been there for trade purposes or some other connection to the Navy. I hope you eventually solve your mystery.

[@kiwitaco461]

I'm building mine now. The name mix up bc of spelling always makes me research more. My dad always said we are related to John Lennon bc there is a Lennon on my great grandma side. Idk if it is true, but I'm betting it isn't. Ik some ppl are just desperate to have a famous person they get misguided.

[@islandancestors2381]

Thank you so much for this video Amy! 🤗The tip about re-reading your notes is so important! I went through the index of a book I noted down once that led me to source documents at the UK National Archives here in London a year later! This knocked down a massive brick wall that helped me take two lines of my tree back to the 18th century in the Virgin Islands!!!

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Isn't it amazing how differently we understand our notes when we revisit them?!

[@kimhoffman2269]

My problem is a lot of women in my family have the same name: Marie Catherine. And the person who compiled the book wasn’t the best at who goes where, so I’m taking my time and matching birth dates and all the information I have.

[@kennethdandurand3472]

@ 2:36 - 3:36, AMEN~! I chased my Genealogy via paper documentation. Way Back. But then last year I joined MyHeritage and was amazed at the other so-called genealogical records and checked each one meticulously before accepting the name. What a surprise when I received a notice that there were 429 mistakes. My Great-grandfather was listed by another so-called genealogist as being the son of my Great-grandfather.... not as his father. So, be really really careful...especially on this site. The person you are checking against may be correct, but then the 12 generations below might be way off and totally wrong.

[@aliyahparsons5782]

I'm a history major in munich and was thinking about doing a masters degree in genealogy. the only one I found atually works with ancestry a lot :D

[@beverlyelzen3763]

I totally accept exactly what my Elders reported regarding our ancestors/roots. This is a reality that they did not joke about. It has been my experience that the federal census has caused more problems in my research due to errors of disinformation.

[@tonisjustknotright]

I am working on the living family members, the problems I run into are so many. My mom passed in 2020, we need to go through the family photos. Unfortunately, not all of the photos are labeled. I have not found anything that proves some of the stories that my father told us. In fact, it seems like they are proven as just stories. I have much more to do. Hopefully I can correct the errors I have made. Once I hit the foreign born, all countries with languages I cannot speak or read, I will leave it for others. I am glad I found your channel.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Sorting through photos after a loved one's death can be so hard... and yes, frustrating. One bit of advice that I have -- if there are any albums or envelopes with photos, keep them together. If you scan them, keep the images from one album in one folder together; same with envelopes with photos. The reason being that sometimes we can identify photos based in context. A photo of a couple standing by themselves might not mean anything, but if you see them standing with a wedding party, for example, you might be able to deduce that they're the grandparents of the bride or groom.

[@geebrewer8186]

I have found so many times, people don't look at their family pedigree skeptically. I have found so many examples of where people had sons/daughters listed born in say 1830s yet, had parents listed that were born in 1910? How does that even happen? Just looking at it people should know that isn't possible. I think that covers two of your points, going too fast and not reviewing what you have already input. And you are so right about talking to family while they are still alive. Photos are INVALUABLE IMO. I wish I had photos of my grandparents, and great grandma who was still alive into my teens.

[@maryfrump7937]

Oh boy I found mistakes other hints had! Having a son older than the father! I see it often

[@ianmcelwee2910]

When you said John Johnson, I gasped and the laughed. My stump is a John Johnson McElwee in Ireland whose parents I cannot find.

[@heathercox5356]

Thank you so much for this video, it was very helpful!

[@frankhooper7871]

I've sometimes found over 1000 trees on ancestry claiming that A's parents were B & C. But I still search for _some_ documentary evidence before attaching A as their child - or at the very least something like the use of an _unusual_ family name given to A's children, coupled with DNA evidence.

[@carolcoopertaylor]

I see so many instances of people copying trees without checking. I look at other's trees to see what sources and media they have.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Yes! Trees can be wonderful clues, but we need to make sure our research doesn't stop there.

[@debralarrabee4530]

My ancestor told his nephew he was a Union soldier at Battle of Gettysburg. I was able to get his National Archives pension file which showed he served on a ship, not in the Army. You never know what family stories are true until you get proof in the records themselves.

[@barrysmith4588]

my auntie may was, in fact, christened violet may - but she prefered being call may. found out 10 years after she passed at the age of 80.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

A lot of people have made discoveries like that. It fascinates me how names are so much more fluid than we typically think of them being.

[@suemount6042]

My dads siblings all used different names than those given at birth some normal some nicknames and I was never told made tree work interesting especially when I found it was a thing going way back!

[@thetoolmat8632]

I am going to a few communities soon to search records etc (in Tennessee) and thought : how could I help others that may not be able to travel to those areas and at the same time I am there doing my research, do the same for them? - of course for a small fee to help supplement my own research. How does one become a paid researcher? And look I would not be charging an arm and a leg, I have my own interest and if I am there in front of documents that could help others I would be glad to do so for an agreeable amount… research and history has always been fascinating to me… any comments appreciated - (my journey to research will be starting in Tennessee then go North including West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, (Doylestown to be exact) then to Cambridge Massachusetts - then hopefully to England - Wales , Scotland and end up in Ireland)

[@randomvintagefilm273]

My dad said we were also related to Brigham Young...and he was right, but not directly. It was his brother who is our great great....Annalisa Young 😊

[@Sana_a04]

I learned very quickly that you need to be careful when looking at information. Ancestry gave me a supposed "Potential 4th Great-Grandparents" who was, in reality, my 3rd Great-Grandpa's half-brother and his wife.

[@scottishhellcat]

A great video for beginners. Thank you.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

You're very welcome!

[@aussiebushgirl1829]

Your videos are incredibly helpful, and I cannot thank you enough. The difficulty I find is when a record is in Index form - particularly British Civil records. For example, Civil Marriage Records. I find that it's extremely difficult to navigate beyond just the name of the person listed in the Index. There is no reference to the spouse or even family. Do you have any tips, or perhaps you may even have a video on the subject? It would be wonderful to know how to progress beyond just the one record. Thank you so much again! ~ Heather

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

I'm glad you're enjoying the videos! To your question, it really depends upon the source/database you're using and what site it's on. Sometimes there will be a section that explains more about the source and how you can order or view the original record. You might also want to see if that same collection is available on a different website, such as FamilySearch. (There can be overlap between the content on some websites and it might be easier to use on one than another.) Also, try googling the name of the collection or look in the FamilySearch Research Wiki to see if there are any articles about using that particular set of records.

[@aussiebushgirl1829]

@@AmyJohnsonCrow Thank you Amy! :)

[@nickmiller76]

Here's an answer which hopefully actually provides some useful information. The UK births, marriages and deaths index is just what it says, an index. It's not the actual record, just an index to the records. To get all the detail, you need to order a certificate from the UK General Register Office (GRO), which you can do very easily online. This will cost £11 currently for a paper copy I believe, or for births and deaths you can get an electronic version which is £7 I believe. Regarding marriages, after a certain date (which I can't remember I'm afraid) the register includes the surname of the other party to the marriage, so you can easily then look them up in the index as well. You can be sure you've got the right person because the district/vol/page details will match. Prior to that, a good free way of getting the same information is to use the FreeBMD index transcription, just click on the district/vol/page reference and it will show you all the names that appear on that page in the original register. You can almost always work out which is the right name by then looking at the various married couples in the first census after the marriage date.

[@frankhooper7871]

@Nick Miller - exactly what I've found. But sometimes I've had to see if I can pair up all the others on the page to [more or less] prove the two I'm actually interested in. Also useful are the GRO online indices - these give mother's maiden names for birth records and recorded age on death records for years where FreeBMD lacks the info.

[@Ripplesinthewaters]

I ran into this when I saw a record of my great grandmother on another tree. They had the wrong person. I figured it out once I did further erase arch. I found that the wrong woman had a different birthdate and death date and was buried somewhere else. I tried to help the other tree’s owner, but I never heard back. Oh well. At least I know I have the right one.

[@RichardB1983]

You mentioned Ireland specifically. The common pitfall there is that a large number of pre-1860s vital records were destroyed in a fire during the Irish Civil War. You can't just take a name and a birth year and select the first baptism you find on Ancestry/etc. (as I've found a few people have done) - or the 2nd or 3rd baptism records etc. You have to consider carefully the possibility that the record is either; 1. not online, or 2. doesn't exist in any form anymore - and an alternative approach is needed. E.g. my 3g-grandfather's baptism likely burned in the 1922 Four Courts fire, but two of his siblings have surviving baptisms. He lists his place of birth and age on his military record. The parents are also listed in other records: land/deed records, court of Chancery indexes, newspaper clippings.

[@XaviRonaldo0]

I've only just started and I know it's silly to concentrate only on my last name as it's only one branch but I'm at an impasse only 5-6 generations back. My name comes from pre German unification Prussia and I can only go back to a male ancestor born in the 1830s. It's so frustrating that I'm struggling there as I'd like to find where the name originated yet I can go back up to 9 generations in England to people born in the 17th century.

[@Krisna_K]

My biggest mistake in the beginning many years ago: not documenting sources!

[@adventussaxonum448]

I've gone back thoroughly to 1680 so far. All my family on both sides are English farmers from Wiltshire, Hampshire and Dorset. On the one hand, I find this a bit dull, but on the other very satisfying.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

One advantage to having ancestors stay in one place for so long is that you can really dig into the history of the area, which can help you understand and "know" your ancestors even more.

[@eileenmurphy2019]

My mom's family always had a rumor about her mother's aunt being married to David Belasco's brother and that that line was Jewish. Well, the brother did not exist. After many years I discovered it was partially true. She'd married a relative of David's and yes, her married name was Belasco. She was actually quite a well known stage actress in London. And yes, we have a long lineage of Ashkenazi Jewery.

[@rickarmstrong9793]

If I could respectfully add a couple points. Not only does Ancestry make it easy to add people to your tree, their commercials make it SOUND easy. One ad sticks in my mind. A woman said: "I didn't know anything about my family history, but I followed the shaky leaves and in a week, I learned I was related to George Washington." As to your John Johnson example. Even if they found a John Johnson born about the right time in the right country, that may not be the one you're looking for. Case in point, my 2x GGF Griffith Williams in Schuylkill County, PA. Census records were conflicting. After much research I confirmed that there were two Griffith Williams, both born in Wales in about 1822. One died of a laudanum overdose in 1892, the other (my 2x GGF) died of miners lung in 1896. But as it turns out, I have DNA matches to BOTH. I suspect, but have yet to confirm, that their respective fathers were brothers who followed one of the old naming traditions.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Totally agree! This wasn't meant to be a comprehensive list of errors or of things to look out for. I'll be tackling more of these topics here on my channel!

[@rickarmstrong9793]

@@AmyJohnsonCrow Oh yes, I know it wasn't meant to be a comprehensive list. That's why I said, "respectfully add." Warnings about Ancestry hints based on trees could be a video all of its own.

[@ΕΜΜΑΝΟΥΗΛΤΣΙΝΙΚΑΣ]

THE PROBLEM WITH RECORDS IS THAT I LIVE IN GREECE AND THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH RECORDS

[@stereomois]

I restarted my tree last year and haven't added any unsourced ancestors, which made me realize most of the Family Search lines are unverifiable at some point and I had just taken them for granted as they made sense.

[@BluesImprov]

I'm halfway through your video and you've convinced me that it will be damn near impossible to accurately research my family history. It just sounds incredibly complicated and the likely results so unreliable that it just really doesn't seem worth it. I would very much like to tackle this, but it just sounds like such a ridiculous process that I'm already throwing up my hands in disbelief. All of the significant members of my family are gone. I have a bunch of things like, for example, very old marriage licenses that I thought would be very helpful. But after listening to you it sounds like they would just lead me down many false paths and I would be VERY likely to end up with NO reliable answers. I really would love to try this but it sounds like it would just end up being more frustration than fascination. The older I get the more everything I was excited about doing now that I'm retired and have more free time ends up with someone telling me it won't really work. I'm an artist, and have had many inquiries about purchasing prints of some of my work. I got excited about that possibility, but when I spoke to people already trying to do that it sounds like it also would be a waste of time. And my work that depicts some "celebrities" would apparently be illegal to sell, and getting permission to do so would be damn near impossible. So I've given up on that, and now after listening to you I can see that my interest in family history is just one more thing that would not really work out either. I guess I've come to the conclusion that NOTHING in life is supposed to work out. Anything you decide to try is supposed to disappoint you to teach you some kind of "universal lesson"' or something. Too bad. Guess I shouldn't have retired so I wouldn't have time to consider anything but getting to work on time the next day.

[@AmyJohnsonCrow]

Oh my goodness! I didn’t intend for it to sound like you can’t find reliable answers - quite the opposite, in fact! Exploring your family history can be filled with marvelous discoveries. One of the biggest things to remember is to not just blindly accept the family stories or what someone has in their family tree. You mention marriage records - those are a great thing to start with! Start with what you know - write down the people you know: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. Look at records you already have; maybe in addition to those marriage records, you have some obituaries or newspaper clippings? As you see things in there, write them down. If you’re in the US, you’ll want to explore census records. Take your time - learn about different things you can explore. You can find your answers.

[@davekeating.]

Artist, heal thyself ; ) It’s 2, 4, 8, 16 back through the generations, parents, grandparents, g grandparents, g g grandparents. One generation leads to the next. That marriage cert should provide names of parents, that’s two generations, and if you know any children of the married couple, that’s the bones of three generations from one document. Before going anywhere near the internet, map out, as best you can, your family tree, don’t worry about blanks. If you didn’t have any gaps there would be no need to do a family tree : ) Only put in what you know or have verified in your research. You can now enter your family tree on a genealogy website and see what matches, suggestions the search engine throws up. You can also send/receive messages to/from other tree owners. You could also do a DNA test and link it to your tree. Now you will have dna matches to cross reference with tree owners that have people remarkably like relatives of yours in their trees.

[@Ali_D_Katt]

I was affraid of the same name issue luckily my family on both sides has pretty unique surnames.

[@fabianmckenna8197]

Problem with unique names is the variety of spelling that can arise....... My wife's great grandparents came from Lithuania and Belarus but Anglicised their names in the UK leading to six different surname spellings on official documents. Thank goodness for Scotlandspeople.gov which allows free searches as well as online viewing and downloading of certificates for a small charge.