Monday, May 13, 2019

Advice for beginning, intermediate and advanced family history researchers - online family trees

While I spend a considerable amount of time evaluating the material I have filed away on the St. John family in an effort to determine if the Welsh ancestry is the correct line to follow. In looking over my London church records, I have already discovered a couple of interpretation errors that were not caught earlier in the research process that will figure into the evaluation.

In the mean time, I will attempt to keep things rolling with some genealogy research advice. This has probably all been posted before, but will reappear for the benefit of those would chose not to search for it!😁  

1. Family Trees posted on-line and elsewhere: Family trees can be a great source of information, if they are accurately documented. 

Many trees offer no documentation or cite other family trees. Use them with serious caution. Look for sources that back up what this person failed to document.

In what seems to be a new and disturbing trend, or just plain carelessness, some trees will be documented, but the evidence doesn't support the facts. A marriage record, with image, will accompany an event. The problem is that the record is for another couple! Make sure the records match the event and people it is intended for.

Documented trees still need to be approached with caution. Make sure the sources fit the facts they are intended to. Find, or try to find, other supporting documentation for each fact.

No comments:

Post a Comment