Genealogy Chat

Sheila Its totally up to you how you do it - its YOUR family tree Some people will say that you have to verify everything before putting it into your tree else your tree is innaccurate - which is fair enough - if you intend to publish your findings as fact. I see genesreunited as a system for contacting other people who may be related and if you get a hit and someone wants to share info with you then you're in a position to tell them that its not all verified and they may need to doublecheck soe bits. You include what you want - it will be pretty simple to work out when contacted if you have a connection - remember this is a hobby and you're doing this for your own pleasure so no-one has the right to tell you what info you should collect and what you are allowed to put online. if at some point someone contacts you to say what you've included is wrong then you can share info and correct any inaccuracies. I look at it like this : I wouldn't let anyone tell me how to wash my dishes unless they're willing to come round and do them regularly for me to show me their way is correct Zoe

I never put anything down unless I'm sure. If I don't know a date I put a query after it or leave it blank. Otherwise someone may think my Thomas Matthews is their Thomas Matthews. On several sides of the family I have relatives living in villages where at least 2 other families have the same surname and I have one village where there are two William Williams and I have yet to verify which one was my great-great-grandfather as they both have sons called Charles the same age! nell

Oh dear I hope I havn't done this wrong I have satarted just adding my family from memory and a few guesses on ages etc do I have to have them all verified etc?

Thanks Zoe My Ggrandad had 6 brothers and 3 sisters. Such a big family so im going to add them all!!

Susan, I enter people just from census info using the circa option for years of birth. I try and find them on a couple of census to check names/ages/birthplaces if anyone contacts you about them you can always say that the info you have is based solely on the census and you've not verified it.

Can I enter them from census details or do I need certificates to prove their births? I have direct line Ancesters certificates so I know Im on the right tracks!! Thanks again Sue

Hi Susan, I enter everyone I find, cousins, aunts, g.g anyone. I'm always so pleased to have found them I feel it would be rude to leave them out, especially as they've helped me get more information. Jan

Yes I include siblings and their families as well. To start with I did this because soemtimes getting a certificate for a sibling born on or near a census year helped to find the census entry. Now I am tracing descendants of the gt gt aunts etc and have, via GR and other sites made contact with several distant cousins with whom I have been able to swap information and so help each other.

Thanks Zoe Thats what I thought!! Ive a huge amount of Info to enter then. Better get started lol Sue

Susan I enter brothers and sisters too and try and work their lines forward a bit in hope that their descendents will beging to do their trees and I can hook up with some cousins. Its all down to personal preference. I find that doing a little investigation into siblings helps me get unstuck a lot of the time and find missing people or narrow down possible certs by matching districts with births etc etc. Even if you're just adding the names of people you find on census' and not looking for other info it may help another member connect to your tree Zoe

Hi All When entering information to your family tree on here, do you just enter your direct ancesters or all ther brothers and sisters too? Not quite sure what to do!! Sue