Family Tree's Automatic Expansion
Hi - Last week I had an email notification about information on an ancestor. I read it and then attached her to my tree. Since then my tree has expanded greatly. To the point of being able to go back to BC time! This expansion automatically generated and has grown since then at different times I've logged on. The expansion took place from a relative from Norway. How accurate is the information in this expansion? It even has gone back to Jesus Christ himself and further back than that! Is this speculation or is it verified? I'm very confused by it. Thank you.
Answers
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I think some academics like to put historic information or speculation in the world tree, and there's nothing wrong with that. Then there are those who are in to "fantasy genealogy". Where exactly the boundary is between those two things is the $64,000 question. I don't let it bother me. In fact there is one line back to the Wars of the Roses that I would love to study up on some day.
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That explains it partially. Kind of too bad. Is there a way to separate reality from fantasy or speculation? I would assume it might be if the entry and those befoe have actual documentation attached.
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HollyKing5, thank you for your comments about the added post that grew your tree so much. It is understandable that you may have questions. The comments others posted seem helpful. Please don't worry to much about this, just follow the best Family History methods of adding folks. All those that have attached could well be done, but you may wish to review some of them to make sure. I am forwarding this to those who develop FamilySearch operations. Eric Sorenson
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To explain the academic speculation part, sometimes a historic fact can be speculated about with out sources which prove it directly. This is because sources may provide indirect evidence of something being possible or impossible. There are many famous examples and one is the death dates of the two Princes in the Tower, which have no sources. It is literally not known when they died, or how or by whom. BUT, the older of the 2 princes, King Edward V (LBN6-DDB) has a death date. This is because contemporary sources indicate the young boy was never seen again after a certain date. If you look in the collaboration of that record, you will see LOTS of debate.
I hope this clears my "speculation" comment up and gives it more credibility.
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Your post illustrates why I do not subscribe to receiving these email notifications. They can contain information which is totally inaccurate (e.g. on the meaning of your surname) or details that are likely to confuse the recipient - or, in some cases cause them distress. I certainly would not be happy to receive the suggestion that Jesus Christ was an ancestor of mine. Yet many users will get to hear this, just because (without any historical evidence) one or more users have added a branch relating to Jesus' supposed descendents, which is carried right through to the current time period.
As suggested, just ignore these notifications if you don't find them helpful. Or, if you find them particularly unhelpful, go to your profile settings to unsubscribe from receiving them.
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