Hello List - I know it may sound trite, but some wise soul once told me that until you go to the court house you cannot be sure of anything. Blessings! John, Grove City, OH At 01:47 AM 7/18/2006, you wrote: > >This just happens and unless nobody puts anything at all on the web it will >continue. I personally posted my own gedcom on my own web site and I have >also found it reproduced on other web sites. It's the nature of the >beast and >not necessarily the fault of people who publicize on the web. It's >the fault >of those who plagiarize. > >Neil > > > >In a message dated 7/17/2006 2:45:23 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, >brivas1@cox.net writes: > >They did do that. I"ve never submitted my information to them on >purpose, but others that I've shared with have done so. And I now see >MY information on cds being sold. Whoever said that public records are >not "copyrightable" was correct, BUT the manner in which you present >the information IS. And when I see the same thing I have, word for >word, AND error for error, then I become very angry. My work has been >stolen, and I am NOT saying it was LDS, or even FTM. I'm saying that >the practice of Family Tree Maker to encourage people to "post" their >research has led to horrendous abuse. People take and post, and then >FTM takes and sells. This leads to a lot of false research being >circulated. When you start getting your OWN information back, and >listed as coming from FTM or Ancestry.com, or whatever, then it's >getting bad. There's no use trying to pretend that some of the >practices of some of the companies are not good. And no use pretending >that all researchers are good and honorable. We need to be able to >speak out and try to stop the ones who are damaging research. > >Jon Miller wrote: > > > Family Tree Maker, which is very good software, makes me a little > > afraid of it now as it's owned by Myfamily. What bother me was the > > rep. of the LDS of taking data and incorporated in their database > > without the owners permission. > > > > Jon Miller > > > > > > ==== PALEBANO Mailing List ==== > > Lebanon County Gen Web Home Page: > > <http://www.chm.davidson.edu/PAGenWeb/> > > > > > > > > >==== PALEBANO Mailing List ==== >Mid-Atlantic Roots Network: ><http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/> > > > > > > > >==== PALEBANO Mailing List ==== >Mid-Atlantic Roots Network: ><http://midatlantic.rootsweb.com/>

At the risk of sounding like a genealogical extremist, I'd like to suggest that it's time to quit bashing institutions and get back to looking for traces of our ancestors. Along the way, it's worth remembering that no source is perfect. Our family Bible lists my great granduncle's birth date two years AFTER he appears in the 1880 census. Census records often have wrong information in them. Church records are sometimes mistaken, especially those that have been translated from old German script. If you don't want your data "stolen," keep it locked up. I've had people take my family information from private emails and post it on Rootsweb as their own research. Get over it. Just hope that, if they get it wrong, they leave your name off. Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com have their shortcomings, but they're very useful tools, especially for people who can't go gallivanting around the planet looking at grave stones. Use the information with a measure of critical analysis and you'll be on the right track much of the time. I have letters written by a relative at the beginning of the 20th century who spent 10 years doing what we can accomplish in a good afternoon online. He'd have been ecstatic to have the help we've got in preparing his SAR application. In the end, what we're doing is a hobby. It's supposed to be fun and enjoyable. Nations won't topple if we misspell great grandpa's middle name. If it causes you too much stress, try stamp collecting. Richard Aurand Sherer

I still maintain that even the records at the court house (or anywhere else) are only as reliable as the person who provided the information and the person who recorded it so one still has to be very careful about what is fact and what is somewhat muddled. Birth, death and marriage records are valuable tools for sure but they are not without error. I would like to think that in recent years recorded information has become much more reliable but I know for a fact that what we call 'official' documents can be misleading in more ways than one. Births attended by midwives are a good case in point. If old enough, the birth records may be found in courthouses or health departments and sometimes the date of birth would be off by a day or two or more as well as names being incorrectly spelled or entirely wrong and sex of the child and names of the parents confused. I am sure the errors were unintentional on the part of the midwives (at least I hope they were!) but nevertheless they happened. When my dad died a few years ago and my mother needed a certified copy of her birth certificate to take care of some of the business following losing a loved one we made the drive from her home in Indiana to Frankfort, Kentucky to obtain a certified copy of her birth certificate. She was almost 75 years old at the time and certainly knew when her birthday was and how to spell her own name but male clerk we were dealing with couldn't find a record of her birth and really became quite hateful with her about it. As you might imagine, I became somewhat irate at his inference that my mother obviously didn't know her own name or birthdate since he couldn't find her. He even went so far as to question if she was sure she was born in Kentucky! Another state employee (thankfully) became involved in the search for Mom's birth certificate. She looked up my mother's mother instead and checked all the listings of children she had given birth to and within minutes the record for mom was found. Her name was spelled incorrectly and the date of her birth was a day later than she had been told by her parents (one would certainly think they would know!) and we paid for the certified copy and returned home. In doing research on her family line I also discovered one of her sisters was registered as a brother instead when the midwife or the recorder picked up her father's name and entered it on the line for the child instead of entering the name of the child. In earlier days obtaining a marriage license didn't require written, documented proof of identity so marriage licenses aren't always completely reliable either. The recorder would enter the names they were given whether they were 100% correct or not. Just because a written document exists doesn't mean the document is true so again I say, we must all be very careful with what we accept as 'proof'. I agree with Richard Sherer's remarks that no source is perfect (unless it is me of course and I am joking here!). I fear I have gone beyond family history research as being a mere fun and enjoyable hobby and it is more of an obsession but it is still fun and enjoyable for me to do. I always enjoyed putting jigsaw puzzles together and certainly our family trees are the ultimate multi-dimensional jigsaw puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles only have a set number of pattern cuts so it is entirely possible for pieces to fit perfectly without actually belonging in the puzzle. Only when the puzzle is complete do we realize someone put at least two or more of the same pattern together and then counted out the requisite number of pieces for each puzzle. When the puzzle is complete we may end up with a jumbled mess that fits together perfectly instead of a recognized family portrait of people we know and have loved. It is much more than simply matching the name no matter how it is spelled or misspelled. I have 'met' some wonderful folks online during the pursuit of ancestors who have become dear friends over the years. I would not have met them without lists such as this one (although no one here seems to know anything about the line I am researching) and if all those mistakes weren't out there online we wouldn't be learning nearly as much as we search out the missing pieces of our history. I wonder if anyone on the list actually lives in the area now or if everyone is afar? It seems to me that surely someone out there must have the information I have been looking for concerning my KEGLEY ancestors and maybe someone out there even knows the maiden name of one of my female ancestors. Or I guess there might have been as many turnip trucks for folks to fall off of in Pennsylvania as there apparently were in parts of Virginia! :) Dianna in MO