Steve Hayes wrote: > My advice to those who are about to begin their family history and want to > store their data in an online system like Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com, > Geni.com and several others: > > Don't. > > Online family trees can really mess up your data, and frequently do. > > When people say to me, in response to a request to share data, "I'll give you > access to my tree on Xxxx", my heart sinks. > > When they ask for a GEDCOM file to upload to an online tree, my heart sinks > even further. > > We've done that, and seen the data scrambled. > > Here's an example, but it is only one of dozens we have seen in the last few > weeks. > > It shows my wife's great great grandfather, John Ellwood, and her great great > grandmother, Bridget Anderson, and their children. They were born, met and > married in Whitehaven, Cumberland, England. At some point in the 1840s they > moved to Durham, and some of their children were born there. Then they moved > back to Whitehaven, and the rest of their children were born there. > > Ancestry.com, however, has them gallivanting all over the world, and has them > marrying in the USA, returning to the UK for the birth of their first child, > and scuttling back and forth across the Atlantic like 21st-century > jet-setters. > > This shows the family from our records, with information we have > > Family Group Report > For: John Ellwood (ID= 2053) > Date Prepared: 12 Aug 2011 > > NAME: ELLWOOD, John, Born 27 Jan 1819 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > Died 25 Apr 1892 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG at age 73; FATHER: > ELLWOOD, Robert, Born 11 Jan 1789, Died 24 Jan 1862 at age 73; > MOTHER: SAXON, Martha, Born ??? 1797, Died ??? 1846 at age 49 > > MARRIED 17 Nov 1839, to ANDERSON, Bridget, Born 19 Nov 1819 in > Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, Died 19 Aug 1876 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > at age 56; FATHER: ANDERSON, John > > CHILDREN: > 1. M ELLWOOD, John, born 20 Oct 1840 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 16 Jul 1859 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > 2. F ELLWOOD, Martha, born 23 Jun 1842 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 1 Mar 1925; Married to LANGSTAFF, > 3. M ELLWOOD, Robert, born 10 Jul 1843 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 18 Mar 1844 in Wingate Grange, Durham > 4. M ELLWOOD, Thomas, born 17 Mar 1845 in Wingate Grange, > Durham, died 5 Dec 1914 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG; Married > ??? 1903 to Elizabeth; 12 children > 5. M ELLWOOD, Robert, born 28 Apr 1849 in Castle Eden, Durham, > died 24 Oct 1932 in Cumberland, England; Married Nov 1870 > to FAIRCLIFF, Mary Ann; 6 children > 6. F ELLWOOD, Margaret, born 22 Sep 1850 in Castle Eden, > Durham, died ??? 1916? in Australia > 7. F ELLWOOD, Hannah, born 20 Jul 1853 in Moss Pit, Whitehaven, > died ???; Married to JACKSON, William; 6 children > 8. F ELLWOOD, Jane, born 20 Sep 1855 in Moss Pit, Whitehaven, > died Sep 1919 in Cumberland, England > 9. F ELLWOOD, Elizabeth, born 18 Feb 1857 in Moss Pit, > Whitehaven, died 28 Mar 1857 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > 10. M ELLWOOD, John, born 14 Feb 1860 in Croft Pit, Whitehaven, > died 3 Mar 1872 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > > But what does Ancestry say? > > NAME: ELLWOOD, John, Born 27 Jan 1819 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > Died 25 Apr 1892 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG at age 73; > ANCESTRY: William ELLWOOD, b. 8 Oct 1819, Kendal Westmorland > Died 7 Apr 1907, Lancaster, England > > Why is that strange man sleeping in great great granny's bed? > > MARRIED 17 Nov 1839, to ANDERSON, Bridget, Born 19 Nov 1819 in > Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, Died 19 Aug 1876 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > at age 56; FATHER: ANDERSON, John > ANCESTRY: Gives only the years, but says they were married in > Cumberland, Illinois United States instead of Whitehaven, > Cumberland, England -- otherwise correct. > > CHILDREN: > 1. M ELLWOOD, John, born 20 Oct 1840 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 16 Jul 1859 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > ANCESTRY: Born about 1841 in Whitehaven, Cumberland England > > 2. F ELLWOOD, Martha, born 23 Jun 1842 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 1 Mar 1925; Married to LANGSTAFF, > ANCESTRY: Born 1843 in Cumberland, Illinois, United States > > 3. M ELLWOOD, Robert, born 10 Jul 1843 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, > died 18 Mar 1844 in Wingate Grange, Durham > ANCESTRY: does not show him > > 4. M ELLWOOD, Thomas, born 17 Mar 1845 in Wingate Grange, > Durham, died 5 Dec 1914 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG; Married > ??? 1903 to Elizabeth; 12 children > ANCESTRY: Born 1845 in Durham, Durham, North Carolina, United States. > Died 1914 in Cumberland, Illinois, United States. > > 5. M ELLWOOD, Robert, born 28 Apr 1849 in Castle Eden, Durham, > died 24 Oct 1932 in Cumberland, England; Married Nov 1870 > to FAIRCLIFF, Mary Ann; 6 children > ANCESTRY: Born 1850 in Castle Eden, Durham, England > > 6. F ELLWOOD, Margaret, born 22 Sep 1850 in Castle Eden, > Durham, died ??? 1916? in Australia > ANCESTRY: Born in Durham, Durham, North Carolina, United States. > > 7. F ELLWOOD, Hannah, born 20 Jul 1853 in Moss Pit, Whitehaven, > died ???; Married to JACKSON, William; 6 children > ANCESTRY: Born 1854, Moss Pit, Cumberland, England > > 8. F ELLWOOD, Jane, born 20 Sep 1855 in Moss Pit, Whitehaven, > died Sep 1919 in Cumberland, England > ANCESTRY: Born 1856, Moss Pit, Cumberland, England > > 9. F ELLWOOD, Elizabeth, born 18 Feb 1857 in Moss Pit, > Whitehaven, died 28 Mar 1857 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > ANCESTRY: Not shown > > 10. M ELLWOOD, John, born 14 Feb 1860 in Croft Pit, Whitehaven, > died 3 Mar 1872 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > ANCESTRY: Born 1850, Croft Pit, Cumberland, England > > The person who compiled the tree probably made the mistake of linking the > wrong husband and father. > > But would he have mangled the place names like that? > > I suspect that that is something that the Ancestry.com software has done all > on its own, and that if you entrust Ancestry.com with your genealogy data, > something similar is likely to happen to it. > > So keep your data on your own computer, where it's under your control. > > If you want to put it on the web, to see if others are researching the same > families, most genealogy programs can create static web pages for doing that. > > And you can use programs like TNG and PHPGedcom to have it available > dynamically -- as long it's on a server under your control, so you can easily > correct errors. > > But when it comes to publicly-hosted public trees, be very, very careful. A tree on its own is not data. It's a conclusion drawn from data. If you show me your data I can reason my way to a tree. If I follow your reasoning the tree I draw will agree with you. If you show me your reasoning I can decide whether I agree with it or not. As you've just demonstrated, if you simply show me your tree there's no means of even working out how it was arrived at and I have no means of telling whether it's mangled or not. There's no means of evaluating its worth so even if it's based on sound data and arrived at by sound reasoning the tree alone is worthless. As I keep saying, we're lumbered with a data model which makes no formal separation between data and conclusion and makes no formal provision for reasoning. And this is a natural consequence of that. -- Ian The Hotmail address is my spam-bin. Real mail address is iang at austonley org uk