gwraigty
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I've used find my past, which I found cheaper than Ancestry.
Are there any "real" genealogists out there who could offer an opinion on the accuracy of Ancestry.com's data?
I know how much work it was for researchers back in the pre-internet days to separate fact from fiction. The validity of the sources was always being discussed. Original source documents were the holy grail. Hand-scratched family trees or pedigree charts written by someone's great-grandparent were always taken with a grain of salt. And even the serious researchers had biases. They were always trying to find a famous ancestor, and might easily overlook clues implying theirs was actually the town drunk, or a criminal.
Now we have a for-profit company vacuuming up any data they can get their hands on and selling it to general public. How are those data vetted? Does your search return information on sources?
Now we have a for-profit company vacuuming up any data they can get their hands on and selling it to general public. How are those data vetted? Does your search return information on sources?
I am not a genealogist, but have used Ancestry ($$$), FTDNA ($$$), FamilySearch (free), Geni (free) and GEDMatch (free) quite a bit in the last 3-5 years. I am an analyst by trade, and before that a technical writer. I have a good concept of what is necessary to be 100% confident.Are there any "real" genealogists out there who could offer an opinion on the accuracy of Ancestry.com's data?
I know how much work it was for researchers back in the pre-internet days to separate fact from fiction. The validity of the sources was always being discussed. Original source documents were the holy grail. Hand-scratched family trees or pedigree charts written by someone's great-grandparent were always taken with a grain of salt. And even the serious researchers had biases. They were always trying to find a famous ancestor, and might easily overlook clues implying theirs was actually the town drunk, or a criminal.
Now we have a for-profit company vacuuming up any data they can get their hands on and selling it to general public. How are those data vetted? Does your search return information on sources?
Another problem she told me about... that families will use the same name over again... she has documented where one family had 3 kids they named the same name.... the first two died young and they just kept using the same name... if you are not careful you can confuse who is who...
Try doing Welsh genealogy sometime.
The family trees on Ancestry are better (and certainly easier to navigate), but there are plenty of errors there as well.
The hope is that DNA testing provides another validated source to confirm matches. For example, written historical record may have missed a few descendants. DNA testing would identify matches at high confidence, and you'd have a new leaf for the tree.
I know of what you say! Have seen similar pattern many times.One of things that DNA can do for people even if they know there are parents is break through brick walls. That is an ancestor where you can't find that person's parents. This happens a lot particularly with women from the 1800s.
I was working with someone's DNA the other day. She has an ancestor born in the late 1800s whose name is known. However -- there is no information on who are parents are. So no way to trace that line.
However, I was looking at the the DNA matches for this lady. She has multiple matches who all descend from a particular person who has the same last name as the brick wall ancestor. I don't know exactly what the relation is but it is clear that is the family that the ancestor comes from. The DNA testing has therefore led to being able to narrow down where to search.
I know of what you say! Have seen similar pattern many times.
This week I found the parents of 4th great grandmother, on Geni.com. The path that led me there was very curvy, and didn't involve Ancestry. It was the unknown parents that was an obstacle.
I think the fun of genealogy is (or at least, was) the trill of the chase.