Don't people realise how much it hurts

[Sloe Gin]

After a couple of months the source replied saying that she didn't have any records of when they were born but had "ESTIMATED" based on the average age for marrying in 1784 and used the "of this parish" as an assumption of place of birth! 

I probably still have some examples of this sort of thing in my tree.  Reason being that I began recording my tree on Genes Reunited, where I was forced to enter a place and year of birth.  I could mark it as 'approximate', but a blank wasn't accepted.  So I had to make some estimates.  Now I have my tree on a software programme, and I'm free to leave blanks - but there still may be some estimates remaining from when I transferrred the original gedcom.

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I wish everyone would lighten up about all this.  It's a hobby, and people have varying degrees of interest in it, varying degrees of experience and expertise, and varying amounts of time and attention to devote to it.  No one is out to upset you or "steal" from you.  Nothing can be stolen from you unless you are permanently deprived of it.  And as someone has said, if you are going to dabble in your family history you cannot afford to be thin-skinned.   There may be all manner of upsetting things lying in wait for you to discover them.

[g eli]

I discovered Ancestry shortly after my husband died,he had tried finding out about his father's parents but his dad didn't know much, since they died when he was young,and we had had no luck with other surviving relatives so this seemed like a good idea. I was horrified when I recieved a hint ,one of those family trees and there he was attached to it,one of these was genuine, but the other had both of his maternal grandparents lines and he was an only child of an only child.It took me a while to get over but I decided to ignore it ,and that particular tree owner I automatically ignore . I know my tree is not 100 percent accurate but I do try and verify each addition as I make it.
Liz

[BashLad]

Heavens forbid any of you find a connection to a murderer like I did the other day.

[cati]

Heavens forbid any of you find a connection to a murderer like I did the other day.

Well you're not the only one....

[Sloe Gin]

I discovered Ancestry shortly after my husband died,he had tried finding out about his father's parents but his dad didn't know much, since they died when he was young,and we had had no luck with other surviving relatives so this seemed like a good idea. I was horrified when I recieved a hint ,one of those family trees and there he was attached to it,one of these was genuine, but the other had both of his maternal grandparents lines and he was an only child of an only child.It took me a while to get over but I decided to ignore it ,and that particular tree owner I automatically ignore . I know my tree is not 100 percent accurate but I do try and verify each addition as I make it.
Liz

Sorry, I don't understand the problem here.

[Nick29]

Sorry, I don't understand the problem here.

Me neither.   My grandmother was one of 11 children, and most of those went on to have 2.3 children (my mum was one of 11 too), and they in turn have done the same.

If at least one of those had an interest in genealogy, I wouldn't be at all surprised.  Through genealogy sites I have discovered at least half a dozen 2nd cousins, and through one of those we found the 'family Bible' which had been missing to most of the family for about 50 years. 

Surely the whole point of genealogy sites is to make contact with other extended family members ? 

[J11]

I think the difficulty arises because we all automatically assume that everyone else is doing their tree with the same amount of diligence or lack of it and in the same way that we are.  I try to make sure that I have checked and double checked everything with original certificates and censuses before I add it, although I may be less rigorous with siblings of the line I am following and that has caused me problems but I have to choose between limiting my credits somewhat or divorce.  When I looked at other trees I used to expect them all to have done the same research, although if I had half a brain I would have realised earlier than I did that if someone has over a thousand names on their tree they are unlikely to have checked it all thoroughly and are probably just copying large chunks of it.  Now I regard other people's trees as suggestions and tips as to lines of research which have occasionally turned up gold, in one case photographs and a portrait of my 2xG grandfather for which I will be forever grateful.

Jenny

[mofid42]

I've learnt the hard way never to take the accuracy of someone else's tree for granted.
I like to think I am diligent and do my best to make sure my work is accurate but sadly I don't think everyone is the same.
Only today I discovered that someone has added a brother and sister born in Kent, who are on my tree, and put them as children of a couple from Hampshire. Why, I cannot work out , as there is no evidence that the couple from Hampshire even had children with those names. I am now wondering if I should point out their mistake or leave it up them  to find out for themselves

[tedscout]

I now write little notes in the comments part of my Ancestry tree with things like "this might not be correct " or " just found this and still investigating".

Oh and I do have over 1000 names on my tree and most have been thoroughly researched over 5 years.

But it I have any wrong - I would love to someone to help me correct it.