family search website - reliable?

[Gan Yam]

It was said in a previous thread that FamilySearch is "Irritating, but useful".

Agree  totally, it certainly can be irritating, but have also found some little gems of info that are fully documented.

[LizzieL]

And on FS (at least when it was the IGI) there are two types of record - extracted records which have been taken from a parish record, census return or some other original record. And submitted records which have been contributed by users.
These submitted records may be accurate, but may contain assumptions, such as age of bride and groom on marriage (I have seen some - pre 1837 -, where groom is always 25 and bride is always 21). Sometimes a baptism record and a death record have been linked together as one record. They could be correct, but it would be rare for the actual  baptism record to be annotated with date of death or burial, unless events were very close to each other.
And  on the subject of other people's assumptions. Look carefully at any BMD certificates people have attached to their trees, whether it be FS, Ancestry or any other tree hosting platform. I have seen some where the tree owner has written assumed information on the copy of the Certificate they have bought, then uploaded it to their tree. An E and W (post 1837) marriage Cert will have names of fathers of the couple and their occupations, It will not have the fathers' date and place of birth as I saw on one cert a while back, which led another descendent of the couple on a time consuming wild goose chase.

[MollyC]

Marriage ages of 25 and 21 are often found in original marriage licence documents, dated a few days before the marriage, where the place is the diocese, not the parish.  These have been added into LDS record sets as if they were marriage records.  I had one couple who were actually aged 46 and 42.

[JEL93]

The value of FamilySearch isn't the trees, it's the huge number of records, especially for the United States.

Exactly! There are are a huge number of records to be found via a search of the catalogue. I am amazed by how few people, including Rootschatters, seem to use this.

I can't see the documents,  I'm from Ireland, I've been using find my past since ancestry was doing my mind in with wildly wrong info on trees being posted as hints. Find my past is easier to navigate however, same issues with the trees. The issue is I've a large amount of family with the same names down the lines or as others with the same surnames, I know myself they're wrong because I know the parish and that the family for farmers so for example someone turns up as a weaver with the same name and living in a completely different parish (irish people just didn't move that much, especially where farming is involved) and it clashes with another record I know it's not them. I can see records on family search being assigned to two completely different people or, different generations. My family tree all seem to be related to eachother at some point which doesn't help!

[JEL93]

And on FS (at least when it was the IGI) there are two types of record - extracted records which have been taken from a parish record, census return or some other original record. And submitted records which have been contributed by users.
These submitted records may be accurate, but may contain assumptions, such as age of bride and groom on marriage (I have seen some - pre 1837 -, where groom is always 25 and bride is always 21). Sometimes a baptism record and a death record have been linked together as one record. They could be correct, but it would be rare for the actual  baptism record to be annotated with date of death or burial, unless events were very close to each other.
And  on the subject of other people's assumptions. Look carefully at any BMD certificates people have attached to their trees, whether it be FS, Ancestry or any other tree hosting platform. I have seen some where the tree owner has written assumed information on the copy of the Certificate they have bought, then uploaded it to their tree. An E and W (post 1837) marriage Cert will have names of fathers of the couple and their occupations, It will not have the fathers' date and place of birth as I saw on one cert a while back, which led another descendent of the couple on a time consuming wild goose chase.

Ohh yes I think this is the problem. People are uploading documents to people and then they're seen as official source?

My family all have a really common Christian names and surnames which is leading to someone finding "john Smith A" and thinking its "John Smith B".

[Erato]

"I can't see the documents,  I'm from Ireland"

People from Ireland can use FamilySearch.  It is freely available to everyone.  You have to register but it costs nothing.  FamilySearch is run by the LDS Church, but don't worry, they never pester you with religious junk.  You can register here:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/home/portal/

Once you have done so, go to search records.  You can choose the country or the type. of record (census, bmd, military, etc.).  FamilySearch isn't particularly good for Irish records but, who knows, maybe some of your people went to North America.

[fhtess1165]

There are, however, some records that are only viewable at Family Search Affiliate Libraries and/or FamilySearch Centres. I imagine there are some FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries in Ireland to help with that, and there must be at least a few FS Centres.

"I can't see the documents,  I'm from Ireland"

People from Ireland can use FamilySearch.  It is freely available to everyone.  You have to register but it costs nothing.  FamilySearch is run by the LDS Church, but don't worry, they never pester you with religious junk.  You can register here:

https://www.familysearch.org/en/home/portal/

Once you have done so, go to search records.  You can choose the country or the type. of record (census, bmd, military, etc.).  FamilySearch isn't particularly good for Irish records but, who knows, maybe some of your people went to North America.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

One of my ancestors is one of 9 men with the same name, same area and roughly the same age.  A simple age error of two years on a census leads many to follow the wrong path. I've lost count of how many times I have cleared the duplicates and crossed wires caused by his name appearing on a baptism or as father on marriage record for someone (usually an LDS member annoyingly), to replicate them all again. The records themselves are accurate but it's how they are interpreted and presented that's always the issue.
I last went through them about 3 months ago and I've just had a look while typing this, 23 possible duplicates again. I've reached the point where I'm not going to correct it as someone will just repeat the same errors again in a few months and it does nothing for my blood pressure nowadays.

[Wayne N]

I last went through them about 3 months ago and I've just had a look while typing this, 23 possible duplicates again.

Adding an "Alert Note" to the person your researching with a explanation can sometimes help with this. Once made it adds the following line to the top of the page "Important research has been done on this person. Please read these alert notes before making changes."