Genealogy Chat

Thanks for the input folks, especially David and Sue who both described their approach to using GR.

Again, thanks to all.
P.

Peter,

I agree with Sue that it is best not to post anyone of whom you are uncertain: I never post anyone without a place of birth and a date of birth. That means that I know instantly whether the hotmatches connect with mine or not.

Of course you have the search facility here to pursue the ones currently at the start of your tree.

Peter

I don't think it's a good idea to put people you aren't fairly sure about on your GR tree.

It's quite common to be uncertain about an exact date and sometimes we all have to put a county rather than an exact place of birth but this can bring up a huge number of unwanted Hot Matches as you've found.

One way round this is to disguise an ancestor with a common name. I've got the occasional person written down as XJohn XSmith or similar. I'll leave them like that until I have enough information on them to be more certain.

I get a lot of good Hot Matches and I actually look for the ones with only 1 or 2 matches because that can mean a new GR member who has only just started research. This week I had a 2 person match with a new contact. She's a distant cousin of mine it seems and doesn't appear to have any of the earlier branches of the family. She's unlikely to add to my research but I'm going to be able to help her a lot. If she had contacted me because of the double Hot Match then she'd have felt as if she'd hit the jackpot.

So I suggest you go back through your tree carefully and confirm what information you can. Hide any ancestors with common names who are likely to confuse the system for the moment. Don't guess your ancestors. It's too easy to end up with a work of fiction that way.

Sue

I've had a lot of success with Hot Matches too but found I needed to be very careful and verify details. I have nudged Heather' Tips for Newbies up on the board for you - it is very helpful for those just starting out.

Hi

I don't agree with David, I've had lots of success from hot matches. Though I do agree that you need something to connect you such as at least the place the person was born. I also tend to ignore anyone who has only 1 or 2 matches with my tree.

Margaret

Unless all the details match I ignore hot matches.
You really need to work on getting correct birth and marriage details to compile a family tree successfuly.

Hi,

I've created a tree of sorts, going back 4 generations, with dates and places of birth of the older branches being mostly guesswork. This seems to have given me quite a few Hot Matches. Any tips on how best to deal with these?

e.g. Margaret Taylor, born c1920, England, has resulted in about 5 pages of hotlinks. I don't know exactly when or where she was born. I do know who she married - the partner does not seem to figure in the hot match.

Any suggestions?