Rich, George, Ed and all, I agree with you completely. I've been researching my family for 25 years and there is no end in sight. I try to prove everything with several sources at least and collect anything I find on siblings, inlaws, etc. for further evidence of what is truth and what isn't. I do use genealogies, biographies, the LDS IGI, etc. for clues but then I try to order films of the actual records or go hunting in cemeteries, court houses, old newspapers on film, etc. There is nothing fast and easy about this hobby if you really care about getting to the truth and isn't that what it's all about? I love it! Elaine Mason [email protected] wrote: > Rich, > > I couldn't agree with you more. Genealogy was challenging enough before the > Internet, but now that so many people are repeating the same false > information it is getting to be a huge problem. Not to knock the new people > to the hobby, but so many of them take anything they see for granted and then > post or repost it online that the situation is getting much worse. Frankly, > I don't see a real solution to stopping it. > > Like you, if it doesn't come with a source it is placed on the pile I go > through when there is nothing better to do with one's time. Those with > secondary sources are set aside until I have the time to see where the > secondary got their data, and those with primaries are verified. > > I cannot tell you how much time I have spent in some cases trying to help > people see that their "research" was false. One woman sent me a gedcom (she > had been at this for three months and already had over 30,000 names, so I > wasn't expecting much) of a family that she and I shared. I spent many hours > trying to show her where her research was wrong....and this was an obvious > case since she had a father being born before his son!! But because this had > come from the LDS it was the gospel truth and there was no convincing her > otherwise. A year or more later I was able to prove that the two men were > brothers, not father and son, and I sent her a copy of the data but she still > insisted she was right. > > I realize that this is an extreme case, but it serves to illustrate the > point. The Internet has made sharing our data together so much easier, but > until we can educate these folks the problem is going to continue to grow. > How do we tell them that genealogy is not about collecting names, it is about > verifying relationships? How do we tell them that it is not about how many > names you have downloaded, that it is about finding verifiable data that will > help preserve these individuals lives. > > It is a shame that so many people, in their rush to be "finished," accept and > pass along anything they see in print as the truth. I don't know about you > Rich, but I will never be finished. I don't see how one could. Just to > research back 12 generations to one's 10th greatgrandparents would require > the data for 8190 people, not allowing for intermarriage of course. That is > a lifetime of research right there and that is not researching the other > siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, etc. That's over 40 people a year for > twenty years, almost one a week, a daunting task at best. > > I realize that most people are not as serious about this as we are, but I > sometimes wonder if they realize how much damage they do each time they help > spread false data, how much time their fraction of a second to click a mouse > costs the other folks who see their research and also don't verify it until > much later. Or, worst of all, do they realize that they may be helping to > cheat someone of their heritage by mistating their ancestry. > > I see my own research repeated often on the Internet, shared without my > knowledge and worst of all, stripped of the sources I included with it. I > don't much care if someone wants to help another cousin along with data I > provided to them, but it really irks me when they remove the sourcing so that > other genealogists cannot verify the accuracy of my work. > > But I think what personally bothers me the most is when I have been having a > discussion with another researcher about a troublesome relationship and they > then assume I am right and publish that information on the Net as being > correct. It isn't even in my database as being correct and I have the source > material that led me to my current conclusion...how on earth can they presume > to know it is right and publish it? > > Well, it is time for me to get off my soapbox before I upset the community at > large. Those of you reading this, please take the time to honor your > ancestors' and desendants' lives and verify any information you come across > regarding them. There is so much false information out there. You started > doing genealogy because you wanted to learn about your family. Please make > sure it is your family you are learning about and so proud of and not someone > else's. The only way you can do this is to take your time and make sure you > are right. > > George R. Wilson > Boonton, NJ