RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: smithkei on Tuesday 19 September 23 08:20 BST (UK)
-
I’m seeing more and more hints on Ancestry from FAG, which is good for information from the headstone. What I also see though are biographies with baptism, marriage and other information.
As I understand these are put together by the person who maintains that memorial.
Inexperienced researchers might then put that info to their tree even though it could be wrong.
I’m surprised Ancestry and FAG allow this. My view is that FAG should limit itself to what it says on the tin, or the grave.
-
So, not very different to Ancestry Trees?
Especially those built on Hints!
-
It's really more like Wikipedia than Ancestry in some ways in that anyone can add a comment or more details to a memorial (this is in addition to contacting owner with corrections or additional information).
-
So, not very different to Ancestry Trees?
Especially those built on Hints!
Indeed. Problem is they self perpetuate and clog up your hints. The Ancestry through matches in DNA are the same, built on errors.
-
I don't use FAG any more. I was doing some research at one point and there was a lot of what I thought was new information for a person I was interested in. Well, it was new information but as far as I could see it was made up. No sources or references and I couldn't verify any of it.
Martin
-
I don't use FAG any more. I was doing some research at one point and there was a lot of what I thought was new information for a person I was interested in. Well, it was new information but as far as I could see it was made up. No sources or references and I couldn't verify any of it.
Martin
That’s exactly my point. Ancestry own FAG now. I think they should stick to the primary source ie the grave and what is written on it.
-
I regret I have found errors on so called biographies on FAG too. It’s a shame as it could be very helpful.
-
I don't use FAG any more. I was doing some research at one point and there was a lot of what I thought was new information for a person I was interested in. Well, it was new information but as far as I could see it was made up. No sources or references and I couldn't verify any of it.
Martin
That’s exactly my point. Ancestry own FAG now. I think they should stick to the primary source ie the grave and what is written on it.
Where do we stop though? The information in the MI itself is not necessarily accurate (I've seen many errors over the years), and not necessarily even proof the person in question is buried in that location.
I find the FAG biographies fascinating and would miss them if they were removed. On the other hand I treat the information as I do with anything similar on the internet... i.e. a starting point for my own research, not proof of anything.
-
Trust No-one.
I only trust my own research, if I have doubt I place a note in the digital profile explaining further.
-
Like many Heraldic Visitations and Ancestry Trees then. Errors galore.
I learned that if I want something done right, do it yourself.
-
I've seen some errors, but I also found one extremely useful piece of information which I doubt that I would ever have found on my own. The same entry with the useful info also contained an error. I sent a message to the person responsible and got a prompt and pleasant reply. S/he immediately updated the entry with the information I supplied.
-
I have recently started to submit brief biographical details to FindaGrave entries for people with connections to my family.
Since starting my research I have accumulated a lot of potentially useful information from BMD registrations, parish registers, newspaper articles, census returns and such like. (All of which could contain their own errors, of course. Nothing is perfect.)
It seems a shame not to share.
As with everything else, I would not expect anyone simply to add that information to their family tree without due consideration. But if it gives someone a lead, a clue… I think that’s a good thing.
If I record where a particular person was baptised, for instance, then the reader can go on line or to a local studies centre and perhaps inspect the full Parish record for themselves.
Having now purchased a number of £2.50 birth and death records from GRO, I can sometimes add more specifically where a person was born or died.
It can also be useful to ‘link up’ FindaGrave entries, so families are brought together.
I’ve been doing some research recently and I have a couple of families that have several separate ‘FindaGrave’ entries that I realise I can connect, perhaps helping someone find more of their family members.
I take care with my suggested edits, and I'd hope anyone reading them would take care with them, too.
-
I totally agree with Sft. There is a lot of carp, carp, carping on RootsChat about online errors but little acknowledgement of the useful information that is posted online. For goodness's sake, amateur genealogists sometimes make mistakes and so do professionals, for that matter. This happens in any field of study. You can go into any museum in the world and find misidentified specimens. That's just how it is.
-
Several times I've found discrepancies between dates announced in newspapers, on gravestone inscriptions, and/or from civil registration or parish registers (not to mention spelling of names). It's hard to know what to believe. I usually put both dates in my trees, with footnotes to say what the source was.
There's a further point that stones are often worn and numbers can be misread.
-
One of my research interests is the surname SMITH in the North East. (Yes, I know... ;D)
I have a SMITH ancestor who died as a young child. She was born and died between censuses. Her birth and death were both registered in a particular name. She was baptised with a completely different name.
I ‘inherited’ very, very few family documents but I recently found – in an old tin – an invoice from the funeral director for ‘grave dressing’ so I know where she was buried and I have a plot number.
As far as I am aware, all the other trees on Ancestry have identified only her three siblings.
There was no FindaGrave entry for her, so I have created one.
I thought it would be helpful for anyone researching that family to know about the fourth child and to know about the difference between her registered name and her name at baptism, so I added a biographical note to that effect.
Because her parents and siblings already had FindaGrave entries I added the reference numbers for those memorials, so they are now all linked.
I have also added a postem on FreeBMD, so anyone who finds her birth registration will know she was baptised with a totally different name, which they may find helpful if they then want to look at Parish records.
I’m certainly not claiming any great ‘find’ that could not have been worked out by other researchers but the existence of the biographical details function on FindaGrave at least gives the opportunity to record potentially helpful pointers.
-
I totally agree with Sft. There is a lot of carp, carp, carping on RootsChat about online errors but little acknowledgement of the useful information that is posted online. For goodness's sake, amateur genealogists sometimes make mistakes and so do professionals, for that matter. This happens in any field of study. You can go into any museum in the world and find misidentified specimens. That's just how it is.
With all due respect, I like useful info seen on Ancestry trees as well as Find A Grave but if I see an error am I supposed to just brush it off? If I find out they actually got the details of someone of the same name and age group to the right person. I shall gently tell them of the correct person, citing sources.
-
I wasn't aware of Find a Grave's stated goal/mission statement, but this thread got me interested, so I had a look.
Its stated aim is 'to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present final disposition information.'
Perhaps the key words there are 'work together.' If anyone felt I had made a mistake - whether on Find a Grave, or in my Ancestry tree or elsewhere - I would really welcome them with open arms! I certainly wouldn't be offended and I would want to hear what they had to say, and exchange opinions and information.
The way in which Rootschat members work together so willingly with advice, suggestions etc demonstrates the value of collaboration. The same spirit of collaboration could work on other sites, too.
-
My 2xgreat gran was born on the last day of 1863 in Warninglid, Sussex. Birth registered end of January 1864. Parents moved to London when she was about 4 months old. It was only in the summer of 2004 that I found she was born Sussex according to the 1871 census, as all subsequent censuses say she was born in London Stoke Newington. Not sure when Find A Grave was introduced but if my 2xgreat gran had a bio in 2004, giving London as her birthplace, it would have to be changed but a note probably added that she lived in London from babyhood onwards.
-
Sometimes, even when its 'writ in stone' its not correct :-)
I recently added a gravestone to F-A-G. Seven names on the stone and I added a bio for each of them.
I researched it to the best of my ability but the details for one of the names just didn't add up.
The stone inscription is very clear and says she died 1st March 1888, aged 4.
The graves register for the cemetery shows she was buried on 17th March - which seemed like a long time between death and burial back then.
I don't have access to the burials registers and it was niggling at me so I sent for her death entry (pdf) to see if that would point to the error being on the stone or in the burial register.
It was the stone that was wrong, The stone was likely erected many years later after the child's parents died and the family also remembered her on it, it was probably an innocent error on the part of whoever ordered the stone.
I have added a note to the bio for the child as, for a while, the info I posted was incorrect.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/260280808/ursuline-bingham-fletcher
BUT as ever, no matter where we get info, its up to us to check it out to our own satisfaction. I've had breakthroughs from incorrect info before, checked it out and found that it was 'close but not quite right' but still value the original info as a pointer to be able to check it.
Boo
-
One of my ancestors was said to have died 11th March 1844, as written on her headstone, but her death cert says she died 12th March. The headstone writing clearly says 11th.
-
A lady in my family's tree has a Find a Grave entry showing a photo of a grave vase. The dates on the vase state simply '1884-1974.'
The death registration gives a birth date of 24 June 1884; however, the birth was registered in 1883 and the 1939 Register includes a birth date of 24 June 1883.
Looks like the vase is wrong. I plan to create a Find a Grave note to alert people looking into this family, but of course I would expect anyone reading it to want to check this out for themselves.
Find a Grave biographies can provide clues, and hopefully the creators of them take as much care as they possibly can.
For instance, I steer very well clear of mentioning children, as I have learned from experience that there are so often more children to be found!
-
One of my ancestors was said to have died 11th March 1844, as written on her headstone, but her death cert says she died 12th March. The headstone writing clearly says 11th.
To a scientist that is almost within experimental error .... ;D. Perhaps the person died late on the day but the death was recorded after midnight - or something like that ?
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
-
Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on.
I would say Most information 'evolves', and whether it is on a website or on hardcopy, there is little one can do about it except grumble or 'evolve' it a bit further. Genealogy may not be a science, but if it was, genealogists would be glad to help improve accuracy. Unfortunately, as we all know, that is not always what happens.
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
They denied copying it. It was a very frustrating experience. I remember telling them all the mistakes they made copying the information I was trying to get them to correct them. I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
C
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
They denied copying it. It was a very frustrating experience. I remember telling them all the mistakes they made copying the information I was trying to get them to correct them. I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
C
That's a shame to hear.
I wouldn't have copied information in that way in the first place, but if someone contacted me and pointed out potential errors in my research, I'd like to think I would have the common sense and good grace to listen and make appropriate corrections.
I suppose it's possible that the Find a Grave support team would have been willing to help, especially if any sensitive information needed to be removed.
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
They denied copying it. It was a very frustrating experience. I remember telling them all the mistakes they made copying the information I was trying to get them to correct them. I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
C
That's a shame to hear.
I wouldn't have copied information in that way in the first place, but if someone contacted me and pointed out potential errors in my research, I'd like to think I would have the common sense and good grace to listen and make appropriate corrections.
I suppose it's possible that the Find a Grave support team would have been willing to help, especially if any sensitive information needed to be removed.
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
C
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
They denied copying it. It was a very frustrating experience. I remember telling them all the mistakes they made copying the information I was trying to get them to correct them. I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
C
That's a shame to hear.
I wouldn't have copied information in that way in the first place, but if someone contacted me and pointed out potential errors in my research, I'd like to think I would have the common sense and good grace to listen and make appropriate corrections.
I suppose it's possible that the Find a Grave support team would have been willing to help, especially if any sensitive information needed to be removed.
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
C
I know you have decided not to pursue it, but if the contributor has died, it might be fairly straightforward to contact Find a Grave support and ask to take over that memorial, and then you could correct it properly.
-
I'm sure there's a lot of good contributors to Find A Grave but I had a bad experience with them when Ancestry hints alerted me to information that had been taken from one of my websites and used to not only say where and when they were buried but to build biographies. Some information is family folklore and can be quite sensitive and is not what you want to see on a grave site. Some information evolves over time and the grave site remains stuck in time while original research has moved on. Some contributors just want to hoover up other people's information and are careless when it comes to accuracy and etiquette.
C
Just wondering - after your bad experience - did you contact the Find a Grave contributor and ask them to remove the sensitive information? Hopefully they did?
They denied copying it. It was a very frustrating experience. I remember telling them all the mistakes they made copying the information I was trying to get them to correct them. I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
C
That's a shame to hear.
I wouldn't have copied information in that way in the first place, but if someone contacted me and pointed out potential errors in my research, I'd like to think I would have the common sense and good grace to listen and make appropriate corrections.
I suppose it's possible that the Find a Grave support team would have been willing to help, especially if any sensitive information needed to be removed.
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
C
I know you have decided not to pursue it, but if the contributor has died, it might be fairly straightforward to contact Find a Grave support and ask to take over that memorial, and then you could correct it properly.
No I don't want to do any more work on this. I had a look at my old e-mails and it was in 2016 I sent a polite e-mail with corrections but it was ignored. In 2017 I sent a copyright warning to her and copied in a Find a Grave general e-mail address and that got a response from her she said, "I never rec anything from you ever. Which records I am a (same surname as my website but she's not related to my family) and so have my own research". I notice the bios have now been removed but there are still mistakes with dates and places. She presumed all my family were buried in the one cemetery.
C
-
I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
You have to allow for people becoming very possessive (and even opinionated) about their info and aptitude for research. If a historical incident has been passed down more than one family line, mutating as it goes, positions can become entrenched - both of them :D. There may be no way to resolve a conflict unless you are lucky enough to turn up a contemporary newspaper account, for example. Even then heels may remain dug in !
-
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
Does the entry state the person was buried in this grave, or is it just recording that person's name on a memorial?
It goes back to the point I made on the first page of the thread - the MI is not necessarily even proof the person in question is buried in that location. The MI just memorialises them - it doesn't act as proof the remains of the person are actually there.
I've come across at least two cases of an MI suggesting a person was buried in England when in fact they died and were buried overseas. On rechecking my 'facts' I discovered I'd assumed the person was buried in the grave solely because their name and dates were on a stone. Having done this (twice) I learned to be more careful in future - and now regard MI's as pointers for further research, not providers of factual information.
-
It goes back to the point I made on the first page of the thread - the MI is not necessarily even proof the person in question is buried in that location. The MI just memorialises them - it doesn't act as proof the remains of the person are actually there.
To reinforce this warning here's an inscription, from Castleside Cemetery, County Durham:
In memory of Catherine the beloved daughter of John and Hannah Elsdon of Consett Park who died October ?? 1869 aged 12 years
Also Elizabeth Swalwell daughter of the above who died September 17th 1874 aged 21 years
Also the above John Elsdon who died October 9th 1888 aged 72 years
Also the above Hannah Elsdon who died December 6th 1891 aged 65 years’
You might reasonably infer from this that all these people are buried at Castleside.
But only three of them are - Elizabeth Swalwell was buried some eight miles away at Hare Law.
-
I washed my hands of it all in the end and put it down to experience. I'm more careful now about posting burial details. It also put me off research in general to an extent because there are horrible people out there that can steal your stuff and do things with it and it's too much bother.
You have to allow for people becoming very possessive (and even opinionated) about their info and aptitude for research. If a historical incident has been passed down more than one family line, mutating as it goes, positions can become entrenched - both of them :D. There may be no way to resolve a conflict unless you are lucky enough to turn up a contemporary newspaper account, for example. Even then heels may remain dug in !
In my case the Find a Grave contributor in the USA was not a relative she obviously found my website because she was researching the same surname and took it upon herself to add to the Find a Grave empire by copying over all the burials but not just that also adding bios that were clearly my texts which were not suitable for their site. They made a lot of copying mistakes and ignored me when I just asked for them to be corrected.
C
-
I've just had a look and it looks like some things have been changed since I last looked but there's a very obvious mistake of a relative who emigrated to Australia being on Find A Grave as buried in England. I'm not going to look further it's not worth the work now. I see that the contributor has now died perhaps their lack of manners was down to their age or health issues or maybe they just got too big for their boots with their access to information.
Does the entry state the person was buried in this grave, or is it just recording that person's name on a memorial?
It goes back to the point I made on the first page of the thread - the MI is not necessarily even proof the person in question is buried in that location. The MI just memorialises them - it doesn't act as proof the remains of the person are actually there.
I've come across at least two cases of an MI suggesting a person was buried in England when in fact they died and were buried overseas. On rechecking my 'facts' I discovered I'd assumed the person was buried in the grave solely because their name and dates were on a stone. Having done this (twice) I learned to be more careful in future - and now regard MI's as pointers for further research, not providers of factual information.
The burial information on Find a Grave for the relative who went to Australia only gives the year of death (right), there's no grave info and it gives the wrong cemetery/place of burial. I never had burial details on my website for this person just their year of death so the Find a Grave contributor presumed they were buried in the same cemetery as other family members.
C
-
One of my ancestors was said to have died 11th March 1844, as written on her headstone, but her death cert says she died 12th March. The headstone writing clearly says 11th.
To a scientist that is almost within experimental error .... ;D. Perhaps the person died late on the day but the death was recorded after midnight - or something like that ?
Or to add a bit of humour, it took her a few seconds to die, starting 11:59:58 on the 11th, and they were dead by 3 seconds past midnight on the 12th. ;D
Imagine being born at the very strike of midnight on the dot.
-
After having found a lot of really good information on Find a Grave over the years, I've had a rather galling experience with a biography entry today.
I found the entries for my great-great grandparents, whom I have researched very carefully over the years and for whom I have a lot of information backed up by official records. The biographies included several errors so I suggested editions to correct them. To my surprise today I received a notification that my suggestions have all been rejected by the biographer because 'they do not coincide with the information that I have'.
So I checked the profile of the biographer and she is no relation, just a well-meaning person who has uploaded literally hundreds of entries from the Australian cemetery where my g-g-grandmother is buried and has gone with a couple of Ancestry hints to invent the biography of g-g-grandfather who is actually buried in London.
I've politely contacted her explaining that I can back up my suggestions with hard facts, but I fear that she's going to take no notice. It's rather sad to find out that this site like many others can't be relied upon.
Bev
-
I regard any website that contains user input with scepticism If it contains an entry I think may contain information relating to someone with whom I have an interest, I use it as guide rand esearch the information myself, that way I can either confirm or refute the facts, whichever is appropriate.
-
"Imagine being born at the very strike of midnight on the dot."
Happened with my niece, the midwife asked my brother what day he wanted her birthday-the 10th or the 11th. He went for the 11th as it would make her a day younger!!
-
Bevj, it’s very frustrating. I have found similar issues on fag. However my main issue is with a certain site where folk put online trees. Errors that one person has made, get repeated by others into their trees. When you are the direct relative and have handed down family photos and certificates to prove that what you know is correct, it’s frustrating but sometimes you have to pick your battles.
-
FAG is not a resource I think to use they're like the tree sites they are at the back of my mind when I'm researching they are part of the wild west of genealogy ;D
C
-
After having found a lot of really good information on Find a Grave over the years, I've had a rather galling experience with a biography entry today.
I found the entries for my great-great grandparents, whom I have researched very carefully over the years and for whom I have a lot of information backed up by official records. The biographies included several errors so I suggested editions to correct them. To my surprise today I received a notification that my suggestions have all been rejected by the biographer because 'they do not coincide with the information that I have'.
So I checked the profile of the biographer and she is no relation
Bev
Simple thing is to ask that the memorial is transferred to yourself. You can escalate it to FAG if she declines.
-
FAG is not a resource I think to use they're like the tree sites they are at the back of my mind when I'm researching they are part of the wild west of genealogy ;D
C
What, you're not interested in seeing photos of your ancestors' gravestones?
Gravestones can be valuable sources of information. The Victorian gravestones I am adding to findagrave often have useful extra information such as occupations and addresses. There are often infant children listed who were born and died between the census which you wouldn't otherwise know about. It might save you buying the death certificate since the full death date is usually on the stone.
The bios are another matter. I only add verifiable data to the bio, such as info from the burial register or probate calendar, when creating memorials. The problem is that other people can edit the memorial and add info that I am unable to verify. This puts me in a quandary as I don't want to be uncooperative, but I have had little success when asking for sources.
-
FAG is not a resource I think to use they're like the tree sites they are at the back of my mind when I'm researching they are part of the wild west of genealogy ;D
C
What, you're not interested in seeing photos of your ancestors' gravestones?
Gravestones can be valuable sources of information. The Victorian gravestones I am adding to findagrave often have useful extra information such as occupations and addresses. There are often infant children listed who were born and died between the census which you wouldn't otherwise know about. It might save you buying the death certificate since the full death date is usually on the stone.
The bios are another matter. I only add verifiable data to the bio, such as info from the burial register or probate calendar, when creating memorials. The problem is that other people can edit the memorial and add info that I am unable to verify. This puts me in a quandary as I don't want to be uncooperative, but I have had little success when asking for sources.
Only a few of my great grandparents and backwards have gravestones. A quarter of my tree is people from an Irish background and none of them have gravestones. I suppose that's part of the reason why the facts about them are more important to me. It's not rocket science the source records are available to view online so when someone comes along and makes a right pig's ear of your ancestors it doesn't half put you off sites like FAG.
C
-
I have contributed photos to Findagrave but have been put off by being asked to approve/reject changes to bios that I am unable to check.
On the positive side, I have had a mystery solved by a kind person who photographed a stone for me, in a cemetery I would never have been able to visit.
However I have also come across a bio of one of my relatives attached to the wrong person. Same name, different person, place and dates. I offered proof and asked for it to be corrected but was ignored.
-
Don't get me started on unverifiable additions to a memorial. I hold most of the memorials in a local to me graveyard. I transcribed the burial register and photographed the headstones.
There's a couple of fag members in particular who want to submit additional information. One I've actually met in the local cemetery, and another is in the US.
The local one I'm happy to add info in a heartbeat, it's instantly apparent that he's a diligent researcher.
The other can't even use sums to guestimate birth years, assigns completely wrong women as the brides, husbands parent's as the wife's parents, declares inaccurate places of birth/ death etc. Everything from her now gets rejected , I've spent too long disproving previous amendments.
-
"Imagine being born at the very strike of midnight on the dot."
Happened with my niece, the midwife asked my brother what day he wanted her birthday-the 10th or the 11th. He went for the 11th as it would make her a day younger!!
My father was born 9:30pm on 31st March. If nan's birth had been delayed 3 hours, he would be born on April Fools.
FAG is a good acronym for Find A Grave but it does sound like a cigarette. ;D I am a staunch ex and strict non smoker now, like my aunty. Not smoked for ages and never will again.
I do like some of the bios on Find A Grave but as is the rule, always check for yourself, like Ancestry trees and heraldic visitations.
-
I think Find A Grave should be commended for providing so many people the pleasure of righteous indignation.
-
However I have also come across a bio of one of my relatives attached to the wrong person. Same name, different person, place and dates. I offered proof and asked for it to be corrected but was ignored.
If this was some time ago you might like to try again. The edit system on findagrave has been updated and you can now submit edits for all fields on a memorial directly. The memorial manager has 21 days to address the edits, after which the edits will be processed automatically.
-
delete please
-
Enumerated,
Thanks, I'll try that.
-
One of my ancestors was said to have died 11th March 1844, as written on her headstone, but her death cert says she died 12th March. The headstone writing clearly says 11th.
To a scientist that is almost within experimental error .... ;D. Perhaps the person died late on the day but the death was recorded after midnight - or something like that ?
Or to add a bit of humour, it took her a few seconds to die, starting 11:59:58 on the 11th, and they were dead by 3 seconds past midnight on the 12th. ;D
Imagine being born at the very strike of midnight on the dot.
Death before or after midnight sounds like a storyline from Coronation Street.
-
I’m seeing more and more hints on Ancestry from FAG, which is good for information from the headstone. What I also see though are biographies with baptism, marriage and other information.
As I understand these are put together by the person who maintains that memorial.
Inexperienced researchers might then put that info to their tree even though it could be wrong.
I’m surprised Ancestry and FAG allow this. My view is that FAG should limit itself to what it says on the tin, or the grave.
I maintain several memorials on Find A Grave UK (all family members) and I include dates of birth and death, where known. I can't verify the veracity of other people's information on their own memorials, but I stand by my own details on my own memorials as true facts. It is up to each person to exercise their own caution as they see fit, I would say.