James Tanner's excellent blog post earlier this week struck a chord with me. He wrote about the challenges of working with the FamilySearch collaborative family tree, starting with "revolving door ancestors" (one whose info is constantly changing) and "impossible pedigrees" (no sources on an ancestor means questionable parents and descendants).
I am so, so grateful that FamilySearch has a vast array of robust (and free!) research materials available to help with my research. And its collaborative worldwide tree can give me a head start on ancestors, especially when I know very little about them or they are on a distant branch of my tree. I treat the tree as a great source of clues for me to follow up.
And I should point out that I maintain a public family tree on Ancestry as well as putting ancestors on MyHeritage. Sources are attached and nobody can make changes (unless authorized by me).
Challenges indeed
Still, my experience with the collaborative tree echoes Tanner's experience. My immigrant maternal grandparents and their siblings had surnames (Farkas, Schwartz) that were common in Hungary, where both were born. Not surprisingly, people who don't know the family well make mistakes when trying to add to these ancestors' FamilySearch profiles. It's a real challenge to distinguish between two Schwartz men with the same given name or two Farkas women with the same given name, born or died around the same time and in roughly the same place.
Above, part of the FamilySearch profile page for my great uncle Samuel Schwartz (1883-1954). I know a lot about Sam, partly from descendants and partly from careful research. So I know that Sam and his wife, Anna Gelbman Schwartz (1886-1940) had only two children, the ones I circled in purple in the image at top. Neither of these two sons was a twin. My Sam didn't die in 1926; he died in 1954. I have the paperwork to prove it and have visited his grave.
Yes, the photo on "Annie Gelbman Schwartz" is one I uploaded to FamilySearch some time ago. But all those extra children, not my work. Sam's incorrect death date, not my work.
So many ancestors - so little time
In some cases, I have made changes to the FamilySearch family tree and attached sources and/or explanations. But this is time-consuming and still subject to change by others. Not where I want to spend much of my time.
My plan has been to monitor (click "follow" star ★ on line with ancestor's name) selected ancestors and read the weekly email of changes made to each, if any. Then I can decide whether to change or keep my hands off. For the most part, I'm keeping my hands off any changes, unless the ancestor is particularly dear to my heart and I can quickly and easily fix mistakes with an accessible source.
My plan is to keep adding ancestors to the collaborative WikiTree, where sources are also shown as well as biographical details. Here's the profile page of my great uncle Samuel Schwartz, whose original name was Simon, I know from the passenger manifest showing his arrival at Ellis Island.
My WikiTree experience
So far, I haven't experienced any "revolving door" ancestor problems on WikiTree. I have encountered a few "impossible pedigree" ancestor profiles when trying to connect relatives to folks already in the WikiTree database but have successfully ironed those out with the people who originally created the profiles. The community on WikiTree is generally friendly and helpful.
In short, I consider adding ancestors to WikiTree to be a valuable use of my time, to honor ancestors and preserve their names and lives for the sake of future generations.
I agree with you. I use the tree for hints and have added to some profiles, but mostly my ancestors don't seem to be other people's ancestors, so have had only minor changes. I prefer to keep my data on RootsMagic but know I should get what I know out there someday. I have investigated WikiTree and have an account. Maybe that's where I'll focus my attention.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you and James T. I don't bother with the FamilySearch tree at all, because I got tired of correcting the entry for my mother from her adoptive parents (uncle and aunt) to her biological parents. Too many re-entry of the incorrect information, usually with no source. I do still use FS for records research, the wiki, and the research guides. But the tree? No, thanks. I'm also on WikiTree, and am happy that they require users there to sign a pledge about entering sources, and happy with the sources being there, and the collegiality about sources, errors, and other information we can all provide. Just had a good discussion about spelling variations with a newly-discovered cousin.
ReplyDeleteAlso agree. When I first started online searching, I thought Family Search was great, but of course, when other people start playing around with your data, it gets annoying. After I added my parents and siblings I did not add sources, they are physical documents I have), two people added another son to our tree... with the same first name as my oldest brother but different middle name, year of birth and a place far removed from where the family lived. I wrote to each of them to and offered to help them find the right family (possibly a distant relation). However, never got a reply. I find FS trees the worst but good for ideas. Ancestry also full of errors. I have not tried Wikitree yet.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I could spend all of my research time just making corrections. If I feel strongly about a change I made, I add a note under the collaborate section and display an alert at the top of the page to encourage users to read the note before making changes.
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