The Pitfalls of Using Online Family Trees In Your Own Research

 

Online family trees are plentiful, and the chances are you'll find people who seem to match your ancestors.

But other people's trees aren't fool-proof, and you can find yourself going down inaccurate roads of research for a long time before you realise that something is not right.

Other people's trees can be exceptionally useful to take your research on - giving you an idea of directions in which you can take your research, and, where sources are linked, even giving you proof or documentation on some occasions.

BUT

...there are some things you should keep in mind when using other people's trees to guide your own research:

Online family trees are mostly works-in-progress

People add to their trees as they're researching - and people use them in different ways. Some people may be making up potential family units, or saving several different options for the same event, in order to review it later.

So the presentation of a complete family unit - i.e. who married who and what kids they had - may be someone's theory, nothing more and nothing less. That doesn't mean it's 'wrong,' - but neither does it mean it's accurate.

With common names, like Jones, or Williams, or Smith, people may be creating possible profiles for their ancestors, in order to compare the known information about each. 

This is a common research technique in genealogy, and some people find online family trees - such as those found on Ancestry, FamilySearch, Genes Reunited, MyHeritage, etc. - the perfect place to work through their theories.

It's important, then, that you keep in mind that you may be interpreting someone's theory as your own fact.

Even the best of us makes mistakes

When it comes to the John Jones' of this world, we're only ever working to the best of our knowledge - yes, even us professionals. 

There can be individuals, sometimes even those with less common names, with practically identical life details - down to the date and place of birth, sometimes. When this happens, even the most experienced genealogist can misidentify which documents and events relate to which of these paper-identical people.

And of course, for ancestors with less documentation and information available, you can only work to what you know. As you find out more, you may find that previous assumptions made on the balance of probability aren't as correct as you thought they were!

Which means that, given the huge number of online family trees, the likelihood is that there are many, many, mistakes out there on the Internet. Honest mistakes happen, and taking someone else's tree as gospel can sometimes mean that you're copy-and-pasting someone else's mistakes.

Some people get carried away

It's not uncommon to find biblical and mythical figures on online family trees - and while this can be an interesting thought experiment, it's not exactly provable!

Other people are extremely keen to be related to royalty, or to someone famous, to the extent that people will take leaps of logic in order to reach this wished-for destination.

In honesty, if you have long-standing European ancestry, you are almost certainly descended from some sort of royalty - but sadly, it's likely you'll never be able to prove the direct ancestral line.

It may not even be a match

The mistake may, unfortunately, not be on the part of the owner of the online family tree - you may have incorrectly 'matched' your ancestors with the individuals on the other party's tree.

Again, even the best and most experienced of researchers make mistakes, so be sure to double-check details when and where you can.

So what can you do to avoid these pitfalls?

The simple answer is to use other people's online family trees as a guide, not as definitive proof

• Where sources are listed, check them and see what information they actually provide.
• Use all 'facts' given by trees as possibilities, rather than certainties
• If you have a particular question, try to get in touch with the owner of the tree, and ask them where their information came from, or if their information can answer your question. Please be aware though that the owners of such trees have no obligations to respond, and the account may even be inactive.
• Don't be afraid to change your research - if something is 'wrong,' then find the right thing!

Hope this was helpful! - Cerys