Week 15 – Big Mistake

My biggest mistake isn’t about any of my ancestor’s, it’s about me.

My genealogy journey started three decades ago, when I hoped to uncover the people and stories belonging to my family.  So, I jumped straight onto my computer, registered with Ancestry and got started.

But my story is a testament to the dangers of blindly trusting search results. Like many, I started my journey with a burning desire to connect the dots, to trace my lineage back through the generations. Every new name, date, and location felt like a victory. Fueled by this enthusiasm, I diligently searched online records, eagerly devouring any information that seemed to fit.  I fell into the trap of believing that if a search result popped up suggesting a connection, then it must be right, and I linked the records not realising that I was getting lost in a black hole of wrong links and inaccurate information.

It took a good few years till I concluded that my work was filled with a lot of factual mistakes.  What do I do now?  Only one answer, start again!

Although it was a painful experience it did teach me a valuable lesson.

My advice to anyone starting out now is –

• Never blindly accept information from search results. Always question the source, the context, and the likelihood of the connection.
• Don’t rely on a single record to prove a person or fact. Seek corroborating evidence from multiple sources to strengthen your claims.
• Take the time to thoroughly verify information before adding it to your tree. Accuracy is more important than speed.
• Be open to the possibility that the connection you’re searching for might not exist, or that your initial assumptions are incorrect.
• Focus on original documents whenever possible. Secondary indexes, transcripts and abstracts can contain errors.

The process of correcting my family tree was arduous, requiring me to meticulously re-examine every connection and discard the inaccurate information. But it was a necessary step towards building a more accurate representation of my family history.

Whilst the internet offers incredible resources for tracing our family history, it also presents the risk of falling into a genealogy black hole.  Please verify information, slow down and avoid the pitfalls.  It’s better to have a small accurate tree, than a large fictional one.  Our ancestors deserve it.

(Amy Johnson Crow – 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge)