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I wouldn't ignore unsourced trees completely. They can provide possible clues as to where to direct the search for confirming records and sometimes the information in the trees turns out to be accurate.
Heartily agree!
I just had an incidence such as this with an extended family member I've been trying to track back to his family of origin. No matter what leads I got, they all were dead-ends and nothing 'panned-out'. And then, quite by accident, I stumbled upon someone's tree who had posted information about someone with the exact name I was searching for and this was information I did not have. I followed up and it looks like this information is worth further study.
The sad part of this story is that the person probably had a free trial of Ancestry and then gave it up after they posted their tree so I have been unable to contact the original researcher. Too bad...but I am still grateful for that un-sourced sliver of help.
A problem, particularly with LDS submitted trees, is the philosophy behind why the genealogy is being done. Church members do it to have those ancestors baptised into the LDS church. The attitude (from what I'm told) is ... better to baptize the wrong ancestors than none at all. So they just really don't care at all about the trees being accurate.
It's a good lesson with all kinds of records. You have to look at why the record was created, to better evaluate what it's telling, and how apt it is to be accurate.
I have no children, but I'm the family genealogist. Part of it is the thrill of detective work and knowing my roots and how I tie into history, but I also take pleasure in knowing I'm helping out some very distant relative, perhaps someone not even born yet. I started with just looking for direct ancestors, but now I've built a website and posted everything I could find on two of my paternal lines, Tyner and Leavell, black and white. It's irritating when someone copies me word-for-word without crediting me for the research, but I like to think some decent human being will also benefit from what I've left behind. So those of you who, like me, see your direct line dying out--make sure your paperwork and digital records are passed on to a historical society or genealogy library. Why should the family stories be lost?
I agree with the poster just before mine who revived this thread. If you yourself have no direct descendants, another relative (albeit an indirect one) in the future may enjoy reading what you documented anyway. Given such a situation, I would document as much as I can within reason and leave it for others to enjoy.
I think it is wonderful that such a young girl (age 12) at the time of the original post in 2013 would be so interested in genealogy (adopted or not).
I agree with the poster just before mine who revived this thread. If you yourself have no direct descendants, another relative (albeit an indirect one) in the future may enjoy reading what you documented anyway. Given such a situation, I would document as much as I can within reason and leave it for others to enjoy.
I think it is wonderful that such a young girl (age 12) at the time of the original post in 2013 would be so interested in genealogy (adopted or not).
Completely agreed. I'm in a situation where little information was passed down my family lines so I rely heavily on information (including stories which aren't to be taken as absolutely factual but still of huge interest since they can reveal more than just names but *who* the people were) from other lines, cousin lines.
Don't let information get lost to time.
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