BS: Genealogists and Wannabes

Subject: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 25 Mar 13 - 05:55 PM

From a newletter, a series of articles on "how to be a genealogist" with links to related pieces on "how to print/publish your stuff" and "how to pick programs to use" and some other related "stuff" might be of interest to those who've "thought about" finding some monkeys in their family tree and could also have some tips for more experienced researchers.

What appears to be the "lead article" is at:

Trace your family history: find out about your ancestors Discover your ancestors and build a family tree.

This article is at an "introductory level" but includes links to "Related Information" that can take you to the other articles in the series. Experienced searchers will want to look there mostly for the links to the "other stuff," although there are some comments on organizing and searching that might include a few useful tips even for the experts(?)

The article on "programs" does contain some information on how to choose programs that can import/export genealogical data to be able to trade the fruit(s?) from your tree with others who may be using something different. This is a factor that can be very important once a tree has a lot of twigs in it, and more advanced practicioners may find some clues about why some data is harder to handle.

(Sharing information with others is a very important part of researching for those who get very far, according to my resident expert.)

The article on printing/publishing might be of interest even for those who are just curious, who'd like to see how some people get a whole tree on one sheet of paper (there are pictures).

FWIW

John

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Mar 13 - 08:04 PM

That article is slanted towards the UK, but is still interesting in part.

I would advise, before spending any money on either Ancestry.com or programs, one take advantage of FREE stuff, like Geneology.com or programs like Simple Family Tree or ScionPC or, if you want more complex stuff...Gramps

I have found some of my family back to the 1600s with no investment, just by incremental searches on known names.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: katlaughing
Date: 25 Mar 13 - 09:02 PM

thanks, both of you. i'll look them over, tomorrow.

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: nickp
Date: 26 Mar 13 - 06:05 AM

Having done a reasonable amount of family research may I add to the comment that John quotes in italics - if you are going to share make sure it's right. I've spent lots of hours following family trees that are hugely inaccurate but have been published 'as fact'... people with over 20 children several born within a few months of each other etc, just because they have the same family name. Trouble is, anyone else researching that 'family' then assumes because someone else has done the work it is correct and so it gets compounded.

Do share, but make sure it's right.

Nick

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: bfdk
Date: 26 Mar 13 - 04:56 PM

And ALWAYS check for yourself what you find on someone else's homepage!

Subject: RE: BS: Genealogists and Wannabes
From: Bill D
Date: 26 Mar 13 - 05:33 PM

I have in my Simple Family Tree program a place for notes on each person, and I indicate where there is date confusion, difference in spelling of names, doubt as to which wife in 1732 my supposed ancestor actually married...etc. I always try to find several corroborating bits of data that are not simply copy & paste duplicates. All of mine except for one the upper twigs of one branch are pretty well double-checked. It helps when there are not 3 or 4 John J. Jones in successive generations.