When it comes to making a family tree, a vast majority of people now are using online programs such as Ancestry. I have used Ancestry for years, even prior to the addition of an online social sharing feature of seeing other people's information in their Family Trees. Back then, I looked up things, printed them out on actual paper and then hand wrote the information into a paper tree or manually typed it into spreadsheets or other software. With the addition of being able to see everyone else's research, more and more people I find are taking other people's work for granted and not checking the accuracy of either their tree or the information provided for the sources. It's easy to just look at someone else's information and save it for fact. There- done! But how do you ensure you are climbing your OWN family tree and not someone else's? Let me give you this Ancestry tip of the month: Let me first say that I am assuming if you use this tip that you are familiar enough with Ancestry to understand the process of the Hint System. If you aren't, please do feel free to send me a message. I will be glad to walk you through the process. If you are not familiar, but can follow along with what I'm saying, please make sure you double check ALL the info given. So You have opened up your family tree in Ancestry and a Green Shaky Leaf appears on your 3rd Great-Grandmother and you didn't know who her father was! You are so excited! (I would be too!) You click on the hint tab and see the items.... But what do you click on? Obviously Ancestry is asking you to "REVIEW" your hint or "IGNORE" your hint right??? Well why would you do such a thing? Why ignore it? Wait!! Don't click that Review button!!! I know - that's what you want to do. That's what they want you to do. DON'T Do it! Just trust me. ; ) But what do you click on then? I would like you to get in the habit of clicking on the Title of the Record INSTEAD of the Review button. Yes, that's right. There is no real need to accept the hint from this screen. A matter of fact, I'll respect you more in the morning if you don't. Here is why: When you look at these items in the sample above, I want you to recognize that some of these things may actually be your person, while some of them might not be. Many times, clicking the title will take you to the same page as the what the Review button will..... but if you get in the habit of checking each item before you click that actual review button, you will have a much more reliably sourced tree. Once you get in the habit of clicking on THIS part of your hints, I want you to follow that trend. On the next view you should also get in the habit of clicking on the actual document page and not relying on the listed information just seen here. There are a few reasons you want to do this. But mainly, the reason is so you can ensure that ALL of the information that you need is the right information. If there is something that isn't right, you should question yourself and the document and follow through with seeing why you think it's wrong. Maybe it is just information you might not know, perhaps it's a new child you've never seen... but on the other had, it could just be the wrong family... with very similar names and ages in the same town. Trust me, this happens all the time! Don't worry, the same options of Yes, No and Ignore (Maybe) are still available! But you can then see the information first hand! and that is a good thing. Spelling might be off, user comments might be wrong, ages might be transcribed wrong making birth years inaccurate.... a whole list of what if's when you aren't all the way into the document itself. If you do this, with every document, every single time and you analyze the information, I will guarantee that you will have the most complete and rewarding tree available to you. These tools are very important. Just blindly accepting every hint that comes to you or not fully reading hte information and ignoring it if you don't think it is your person, is a mistake that we have all made - even myself when I first started. I hope that as we learn more and more in our research we also accept the fact that we all can help make the information reliable for those new to the research who will make those same mistakes. I hope that tip helps some of you with good working tree habits. Just like brushing your teeth every day is a good habit, so is Checking your Clicks! Your Adventures in Genealogy are important, just like your teeth! Enjoy them! ~ The Original ~ AGenealogyLady
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Help Me Keep this Website Free. Donate from just $1 to any amount of your choice!
AuthorMichele is an obsessed mother of 4 residing in North Alabama. Hobbies include long walks in the woods, on the beach and in strange cemeteries and libraries. Genealogy friends need only apply. Categories
All
|