Posted by James Tanner on April 21, 2010 at 9:30am
Here is an interesting observation. I did a search for myGreat-grandfather, Henry Martin Tanner, on Ancestry.com. This is not anobservation about Ancestry.com as such, but more about the legions ofpeople who post their family records online. When I look at the entriesfor Henry Tanner, I find what I already know, that he had two wives (andat the same time also). But that is not the issue, one of thecontributors to Ancestry.com has Henry Tanner listed with his two wives,Eliza Ellen Parkinson and Emma Ellen Stapley. Eliza is listed as having 14children and Emma is listed with 4. Read more...
It appears the today's genealogists don't research, only collect genealogies without checking the facts. On WorldConnect many of the posted genealogies have disclaimers of their posted genealogies, after all it is only a hobby. The problem with that statement is, if you took up knitting as a hobby would you just pick up a couple of pencils or sticks and any ball of twine & knit yourself a sweater and so what if the head opening is not large enough or one sleeve is longer then the other, after all it is only a hobby. People learn the proper proceedures & use the proper tools in engaging in a hobby. A hobby should be fun, interesting, educational and, yes, character building. Skills which can help you in other areas of life.
The internet has both helped and hindered genealogy. Sorry, you cannot just get on the internet & have your genealogy handed to you. I have found as much as a 90% error rate on some of the genealogies I am researching on the internet (and I don't mean the query sites), like WorldConnect and personal sites. If we would all do our research correctly before we posted it as "bible" it would save a lot of time, money, tears & frustration and we would all make faster progress in our research. Jim.
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The internet has both helped and hindered genealogy. Sorry, you cannot just get on the internet & have your genealogy handed to you. I have found as much as a 90% error rate on some of the genealogies I am researching on the internet (and I don't mean the query sites), like WorldConnect and personal sites. If we would all do our research correctly before we posted it as "bible" it would save a lot of time, money, tears & frustration and we would all make faster progress in our research. Jim.