Others will do so just to make people go down the wrong path. Many people will slap in a date just to make their tree look cleaner. This is a major false perception that will lead you to stumble and not find the truth or any records. It was also due to a lack of online resource records and my thought was, “Well someone went to the archives and is sharing information.” Let’s pause there for a moment. My thought process interacting with these trees was, “Hey, everyone else has it and they are providing dates so it must be true!”. Upon uploading my tree, gullible me started adding individuals with their entire family as the hints seemed to be so accurate. I had removed it from Ancestry many years prior as there were no records for Puerto Rico. While they might provide some hints, here is why you shouldn’t.Ībout 15 years ago, I decided to move my tree back to Ancestry as everyone was advising that there was a lot of information with plenty of resources available. Some of it is not intentional but others are outright tall stories.
Step 1, I have Ancestry’s tree hints turned off for other trees as the majority of trees on Ancestry have lots of false information. Well, today I will share how I go about it, we all need to do better with our documentation. If documentation exists, most of the time the document doesn’t belong to the ancestor in question. I am dizzy from it and no documentation to be found for these ancestors. However, when I take a look at the tree, I wind up feeling like I’m on a family tree rollercoaster ride as I wind up navigating family tree after family tree. When I asked if it is sourced, I get a resonating yes. I have had individuals request that I review their tree, they are so proud of their work.
There! I said it! Many come to believe that because it appears on multiple trees that it must be factual. We are going to start with… AN ANCESTRY TREE IS NOT A SOURCE!!! So I am writing this post because I think it is time for people to understand what it means to document your tree. I know that when it comes to my African roots, it requires further research beyond records because getting it right means I am respecting the most horrible fate any human could face slavery. When adding people to your tree, ensure that every entry makes sense and is thoroughly researched. Unfortunately, many people have public trees available and it just exacerbates the problem. This is to ensure people do not copy errors because no one ever thinks of coming back and checking for corrections nor do they validate what they found. If you are researching an individual, I recommend creating a separate tree called “ Res earching Individuals” and make the tree private and not searchable if you have your tree on Ancestry. So, if you are not sure of an individual, then adding them before verifying their connection is a disservice to any hard work that you or anyone before you put into connecting the family within the tree. Now is not the time to take shortcuts, they earned their right to be recognized by each of us by providing the truth of what they went through and would truly appreciate it if you don’t tell tall stories about them. Our ancestors went through many epidemics, wars, human rights violations, and catastrophes to make it possible for each of us to be here. So why am I writing this post? Well, I have lost count on the number of trees where people add a name, no region, just a place or even that is left off. Remember, the idea is to recognize who your ancestors were and getting to know the challenges they faced during an era that was not stable for many.
It is not a time to be lazy or state that you’ll take care of it later because later never arrives and things tend to get in the way. What a question, but a valid one! Are you guilty of not documenting your family tree? Documentation is a significant step when adding ancestors to the tree.
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