Those who are early in their geneaology journey, how deep are you researching, and where?
I started researching my family tree this year a few months after losing my Dad. It has helped keep me sane whilst honouring my father and feeling more connected to my ancestors as I learn about them. I signed up to Ancestry.com to begin with, as I figured this website has the widest range of sources and searchable indexes. Of course being a novice, I got too carried away with the 'hints' aspect and made a few errors. After researching outside of Ancestry (ie looking up old articles and finding information elsewhere too - GENIUK and General Registry Office to name a couple), I realised how many false leads Ancestry.com can give you if you don't stop to question the authenticity of the record. There are SOOOO MANY duplicates and cases where the algorithm has smooshed two individuals together on the assumption that it is the name which features most prominently in the indexes! For example - I was initially told that I had ancestors from a very wealthy Scottish family involved in the Jacobite Rebellion; various Lords and Ladies kept showing up in my 'potentials' until I discounted this entire branch - through some thorough reading of old texts on the national archives. It's a good job I undertook this independent research otherwise I wouldn't have seen the huge discrepancies in dates and places. You've got to be so careful with simply assuming another user's tree is showing the same person. I learnt quickly not to copy facts across without investigating and validating them first, and this takes TIME. Thankfully I love the subject and relish a challenge, so it gives me immense satisfaction to be able to then seperate the wheat from the chaff. I found out that there are also numerous records across genealogy websites - Ancestry, FindMyPast, MyHeritage etc that haven't even been transcribed properly, with spelling mistakes and approximate dates which can be very frustrating. Sometimes I have half a dozen probable pieces of evidence in front of me but the birth date ranges are ridiculous, 5 years or so. This makes the need to scrutinise each record essential if you are to craft an accurate pedigree. One thing I won't knock however is AI - not the AI embedded within family tree websites, but feeding all information and images/documents you have gathered into Gemini and requesting that it suggests meaningful avenues to explore next. By adopting this method I arrived at an online local news archive, which helped anchor a 4th generation ancestor to a murder plot!!! I would never have known otherwise.
What I'd like to know is…are you just using one website? A few? Are you subscribed etc? How reliable do you find the records, and have you had similar experiences? Please do share success stories too!
:)
Answers
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@Stef507
Firstly, I want to say that I’m so sorry for your loss.
Secondly, Welcome to FamilySearch!
Some initial feedback . . .
I started doing genealogy in the Spring of 2025.
All my “tree” work has been on FamilySearch.I access AncestryLibrary from my local public library.
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Pros: free, can view user trees, can view almost all sources (I’ve only had one record restricted), their search engine is more intuitive and robust, can easily switch between record searches and tree searches.
Cons: cannot attach sources to my tree, cannot contact any users to collaborate, cannot see which trees a source is attached to.
My career has been either directly in data management or working with data and specifications. Therefore, I already have a huge mistrust of “Hints” and always thoroughly read every source and record.Do not trust the “To Do” list on the FamilySearch main page. Others have stated it can disappear without notice.
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As such, I have created a spreadsheet:
One tab for work I can do from home,
one tab for records that can only be viewed at a FamilySearch center or affiliate library,
one tab for documenting the errors and wild assumptions made by a distant cousin who has polluted Ancestry and subsequently some of those errors have made their way onto FamilySearch,
and I’m about to start another tab to document inappropriate behavior by a 5th cousin.On my Find a Grave profile I state this:
FYI - There are many FREE ways to research genealogy:
- FamilySearch is completely free and always will be. Over 75% of the records on Ancestry are also on FamilySearch and vice versa.
- All FamilySearch centers provide free access to: Ancestry(Institution), MyHeritage (Library Edition), FindMyPast, AmericanAncestors, and Geneanet. Other resources vary by location.
- Ancestry(Library) is available for free inside most public libraries either via their computers or connecting to their wi-fi with your device.
- Newspapers.com, MyHeritage (Library Edition), and other paid-subscription websites are available through some public libraries' websites. Some limitations may apply (e.g. only newspapers from your state or county).
[Note: those percentages are just wild guesses. If anyone in Community has a more accurate number, please let me know]
I also have 2 Soapbox Speeches. One on data integrity. Part of that rant includes:
Quality is far more important than quantity.
Genealogy without proper citation is often fabrication.- Please do not blindly trust any online family trees because a significant number of them have serious flaws and are Junk Genealogy.
- Always thoroughly read sources and records before attaching or citing any facts.
- If the source is from Italy, please always read the actual paper record on Portale Antenati, including the marginalia, because not all data gets indexed into English.
- Please question tree users and memorial managers who do not provide explanations with their statements and entries.
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I think a LOT of us made this error. I've just been going back and deleting branches of my tree that I worked on when I was a brand-new genealogist (20 years ago!) because I just don't have any idea if they're trustworthy. There was certainly NO original research in there, so no big loss to redo them.
One thing I'd suggest all new genealogists do is go slow and thoroughly research one person at a time. Really LOOK at the records, not just the indexed information.
If I'd done that, I'd have probably not made one of my biggest mistakes … assuming my g-g-grandfather's stepmother was his birth mother just because she was married to his father on the 1860 census where he when he was 2. (If I'd been paying attention, I would have realized that they were MARRIED in 1860 so she couldn't have had a 2-year-old child with him.) I did a TON of research on her line, and sadly I've seen a lot of other people repeat my error in their own trees.
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