Genealogy Chat

See Below......

Am I the only person to use the Extra Details Box? I have access to around 30 trees off Gr (Might I add I have never asked for any of therm!) and not one of them put any information in the extra details..So I have no idea where this information has come from! Mine are full of info ie census references and marriage details with witnesses even details of the grave stone if I have seen it. Why does nobody else use it? Sara

I personally keep that info elsewhere, if I open my tree to someone I do not necessarily want to share all that with them. Sam

There's a facility to include photographs too, but when you allow somebody to access your tree, there's no indication that a photograph is included, so unless they are specifically looking for a photo they won't know that one is available. Daft, isn't it? Would you interrogate every name on a tree to see if there's a photo included? I don't think so.

Guilty My online tree is not my main storage place for information. That's on a special program My GR tree is very small, - just large enough to include main names of interest and I have no extra details shown. I will rectify that over the next week or so, in regard to census links. Gwyn

Thanks all for your replys, When I first started to do my family history, like most of us I started on GR. Then when it got bigger and bigger I downloaded it to Leagcy so I also have my extra info on there. Perhaps I should delete my GR tree and just put my main relies on here. That should put a stop to all those annoying Not so Hot Matches. I just think that the most important or most interesting part of ancestry history is the source information. Where this person lived and what they did for a living..etc It seems a shame when the additional info is blank. Thanks again Sara

It was several years after I had started that I realised recording piece and folio numbers (and noting which census!) was helpful if I wanted to find a reference again. Most of my research was done before I acquired a computer, so I copied handwritten trees straight on. At that stage I had no idea that I might share the information in computer format. These days, I tend to have notes on newly discovered births, marriages, burials etc, usually with sources if not self evident, plus a rating on how reliable that source is. It has proved very helpful in establishing that I have had prior contact with GR members. But.... GR only has a single box for notes, a single box for sources and all that hard work is lost. Along with burial details. Which is why I never bother to open my tree these days, but will send extracts of my offsite tree to genuine relations.

I originally put all my sources etc on my GR tree. However, I made two big mistakes on my tree, due to the recurrence of names down the generations and it is impossible to correct it on here without a lot of faff. So I have recently put my tree on Tribal Pages - oh what joy! you can alter it with ease, add LOTS of information, in a format which is easy to read - no poky little box the size of a postage stamp to type in. Furthermore, I can also put two 'floating trees' on it too - two small branches of families I am researching, in order to prove or disprove that they are related to me. I dont have to create a false link, as you do on GR. I probably wont ever add anyone to my GR tree again - takes too long, too fiddly, and as I NEVER open my tree to anyone, then it doesnt matter! Any info I give out, I do by email anyway, a drop at a time, properly sourced etc. Doing it this way means that I do not give whole chunks of tree to a casual seeker - they have to be dead keen to keep coming back for a bit more! OC

Hi Sara, I use the 'Extra Details' box but mainly only for details given before 1900 after which I tend not to use it. As others have said, this information remains on my main file on my home pc. Cheers Paul

Old Crone, I am pleased you liked tribal pages. I have a tribal page tree which has more details and photos which I open to genuine family members. I use the extra details on here to add titbits like name also spelt Toms, or Elizabeth is Betty on 1877 census. I usually add the names of children if I have given up on a line or don't know where or when they were born Similarly spouses in case someone gets in touch and I need to see if they match and if someone is inconsiderate enough to mary a Mary Brown she would be added as an extra detail to avoid hot matches I did start adding more details but found it too time consuming. If you have a large tree it is quite difficult to read. Even if someone shared a tree I would have to be very interested to work my way through the details on here. If someone asks me for a source (which does not happen very much) I will answer specific questions but tend to think their family tree should be their work. (Lol). I have included a few web links on tribal pages to local web sites as well so people can see where I got some of the information.