I made my family tree and all the information comes from the US census, but then I was in the forums and they said not all was acurate!. Is this possible!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
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Position:Home>Genealogy> Is ancestry.com acurate?Question: Is ancestry!.com acurate!? I made my family tree and all the information comes from the US census, but then I was in the forums and they said not all was acurate!. Is this possible!?Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Ancestry!.com is a really good tool, but as other people mentioned you need to check what it's given you!. Census records are sometimes not accurate, through no fault of ancestry!.com!. My great aunt Dean, for instance, who had both a first and middle name that is usually reserved for males, is identified as a male on several documents I found on acestry!.com!. If I didn't know my aunt, I would be really confused!. also, I found a few census records that mixed up relationships- an uncle of a grandparent being identified as a brother, etc!. I wouldn't accept subscribers trees into your own until you've checked their information!. I've gotten a lot of bad info through doing that and have probably confused other people looking for the same information by merging bad trees with my own!.Www@QuestionHome@Com you have to distinguish between their original source recoards and their subscriber submitted family trees!. There original source records have been transcribed but you canlook at the originals!. Now, on the census records, they have also been transcribed and there are some errors but when you look at the original images you can have pity on the transcribers!. Original census records themselves can have mistakes!. The census takers were mostly concerned in getting a head count and certain info wanted during that census year!. They had no earthly idea that 100-150 years down the line people would be pouring over those census records to find their family history!. I have found them on my family!. The 1880 census of Travis County, Texas has my 3 year old grandfather with a 1 year old brother named Emanuel!. I was puzzled at that!. Then realized his sister Emma wasn't on it!. The census taker just misunderstood!. Up until the 1950s they put dresses on little boys until they were potty trained!. So if the census taker saw her he still probably wasn't sure!. Someone said the girls were frillier!. Ha, around the house she was probably wearing one of my grandfather's hand-me-downs!. I have seen other mistakes and some I can definitely figure out why they were made!. The family trees on ANY website, free or not free must be viewed with caution!. They are very seldom documented or they are poorly documented!. You might see different info on the same people from different subscribers!. Then you will see the identical same info on the same people from different subscribers, BUT that is no guarantee at all it is correct!. A lot of people copy without verifying!. The information should be used as CLUES ONLY in order to get the documentation!. They have 4 family tree programs Ancestry World Tree, their oldest and largest and I think they are trying to make obsolete!. One World Tree which is trash or as one person said GIGO!. Garbage In Garbage Out!. Some people would use bowel and urinary function crudities to describe it!. They have taken info from other family trees and have tried to combined them showing all the different info on the same person!. However, I have seen more than once where they combined 2 people into 1!. Public Member Tree- I use and I find it is great to bring forth records they have!. They will notify you if they have records on someone in your tree but you still need to verify that it is the same person!. also they will notify you if they have someone in your tree that is in One World Tree- Watch It!!. Private Member Tree!. Don't expect to find living persons in the family trees as that is considered an invasion of privacy and can lead to identity theft!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Trees don't count unless they're sourced and properly cited!. Sources and citations don't count unless they're properly transcribed!. Sources and citations that are properly transcribed don't count if the person who gave the information was lying or mistaken!. Mistakes on census documents---even directly imaged, are prone to plenty of errors!. I generally only trust information if it is corroborated with information from a different source, preferably backed up by multiple, differing sources!. I have run across too many bogus, forged birth certificates and falsifications on censuses that I don't trust much of anything anymore!. Even church records can cause headaches!. Genealogy is a great hobby, but when it comes down to the forensics of determining Truth, it's just old fashion blood, sweat, and detective work!. Ancestry databases are huge, so you have access to many clues, a point in Ancestry!.com's favor!. However, it's up to the genealogist to determine the validity of any data, regardless of source!. Sounds like you've already experienced the "joy" of having to resolve a data conflict!. Happy hunting, and keep your sleeves rolled up! Www@QuestionHome@Com Interesting question!.!.!. For years, people have been praising Ancestry, insisting that it's the best site for censuses and other records, so I signed up to a free trial!. I've found so many mistakes it's unbelievable!. There are spelling mistakes upon spelling mistakes!. Don't get me wrong; Ancestry is probably the most thorough site I've seen, with the broadest spectrum of records in one place, but you're always going to enounter the problems in accuracy!. It's an accepted fact that enumerators would spell names wrong, because either the individuals couldn't correct them, or they were rushed or tired, so their brain wasn't in peak form!. But to have the transcribers transcribing the records incorrectly is something they don't warn you about!. Basically, whenever you look up a census, make sure you view the scan image, because In the past week I've found at least 10 errors in transcription, including a 3 year old that was apparently the mother-in-law of a 63 year old man!. I dread to think how young she must have been when she had her child!.!.!. Ancestry is just like any other site online, and as with all of them, you need to double check your findings, either by searching other sites, or by purchasing certificates!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I would just repeat what's been stated above: Look at the actual images!. Everybody makes mistakes and the census takers, often dealing with people who didn't speak the same "brand" of English, were certainly not immune!. Then you have the transcribers coming along many years later, trying to decipher the handwriting of an earlier age (often written under less than ideal conditions, i!.e!. ink froze in the pens) and a great variety of names with which they have no familiarity, and you can be led very off track!. My great-great-grandfather's given name, Claude, was recorded as Cloe, Glode, Gelode; his surname, Gelinas, as Gillinau, Jellineau, Gelinia, Galinau!. So look at the actual record and interpret it for yourself!. Www@QuestionHome@Com I've found both acurracy and mistakes!. For example, I have an Uncle Shirley (his twin brother is my grandfather) , I found Shirley listed as both a male and female!. I've also used it to double check my records and found most of them right but a few mistakes!. carrie I would double check any information i find on it simply because how can my uncle be listed as both a male and female!?Www@QuestionHome@Com UK answer!. I think that ancestry!.com/!.co!.uk are both excellent!. I have membership to the world deluxe and I cant fault it!. I think it's a matter of personal opinion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |