Those little green leaves,,,,,,

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Greetings!!

 Those little green leaves on ancestry.com and the trouble they can cause the new genealogist.
These leaves show you "hints" on your tree.  They are hints only and not cast in stone that they fit your family!!  You still must do your own research to make sure the hints are correct.  Then accept the ones that fit and decline those that do not.

Unfortunately, I see a large number of trees on ancestry where it is quite obvious people are adding information, hints, or info from other trees without verifying a thing.  Then the next newbie comes along and copies a ton of wrong information.  I know, the ancestry commercials make it all sound very easy, but it is not.  At least not if you care enough to want to have correct information.  Verify everything!!  Have more than one source to confirm the information is correct.  Don't be afraid to ask other folks who are researching the same family questions.  The worse that can happen is they either don't respond or they get mad.  Most are willing to share info when asked politely, but the few who don't, ignore them and move on.  If you are unsure of information in your tree you can either put it on private status or add notes to the areas that are questionable, so people will know it is unconfirmed.

For years I kept my trees on private because I did a lot of "experimenting" trying to eliminate possible ancestors and confirm those that were correct.  I did not want anyone getting incorrect information.  Recently I decided to go public and added notes so hopefully people can have a better look at the process.  I hope it works.  I have found numerous trees in my Parker family line that have wrong information.  I used to try to contact everyone to offer them the evidence I have to support my findings but it got to be too much.  I spent more time contacting people than I did furthering my research, LOL.

So please folks, don't just add things without verifying them!!  If you care enough to want to do your family history then please care enough to want to find the truth.

Until next time,,,,,,,

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