I've noticed some recent postings from apparent newer gen researchers. A word of caution-just because something is on the web, doesn't make it correct. While surfing around, I typed in my maternal surname- Chelminiak. Actually I was looking for a cousin's email address. I found a site that listed my grandfather in a family tree. Wasn't really comparing the facts until I reached my mother in the tree. She was listed as Marie, not Mary. After 40 years of asking "what was his/her real name?" including what was your name, I think she would have said her name was different then what was on all her legal documents. So I backed up a bit. My grandfather DOD was listed as after 1921. True. He died in the 1950s. Hmmm. Hopefully someone using this data for their own research would know to check over 30 years to find his DOD. He was also listed as dying in the wrong state. That can be a problem. To make a long story short -too late. Try to get more than 1 unrelated source for your facts. Anyways, I just wanted to share this with you all. I did email the submitter. Anne in Toledo Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I think your comments apply to primary resource material, also. I'm researching my Polish and Lithuanian sides of the family and have found blatant examples of "the wrong person" at the closest possible levels of my research. My father's name is FRANK JOSEPH KANIA and my mother's maiden name is GENEVIEVE MARTINONIS. They were both born on the North Shore of Boston (North Andover and Lawrence respectfully). They grew up in Lawrence, Massachusetts. My grandparents immigrated, lived and died in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I have substantial documentation and first-hand knowledge of all this. You'd think this was drop-dead accurate. Afterall, we're not dealing with Johnny Jones and Mary Smith -- these names are pretty "unique" by most standards. Exploring the draft registration cards for World War I, I was surprised to see FRANK JOSEPH KANIA from Massachusetts. My father was born in 1914, so that would have made his service in World War I rather difficult. That FRANK JOSEPH KANIA resided at 14 Monroe Street in Westfield, Massachusetts. My grandmother lived in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, so I thought there "could" be some connection, but then I read on -- The person who would know his address (according to the registration card) was MARY KANIA at the same address. His grandmother's name was MARIA KANIA, so again, I was curious. His place of birth was Womvza (or Womrza) Poland. Nope - my father was born in Massachusetts and his mother was born in Buczkowice Poland. On page two, the registration card said FRANK JOSEPH KANIA was a white man, 4 1/2 feet tall, 150 lbs, brown eyes and black hair. My father, FRANK JOSEPH KANIA was approximately 5' 10", approximately 170 lbs., and with brown hair and brown eyes. The other guy was over a pudgy guy that was more than a foot shorter. If I accepted the registration card as "fact" that the name was the same -- I would have been going down the wrong path. Even more interesting was my mother's side. GENEVIEVE MARTINONIS (aka MARCINONIS according to some branches of my family) was born and lived in Lawrence, Massachusetts. A few years after my mother was born, there was another GENEVIEVE MARTINONIS born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. There was also an ALEXANDER MARTINONIS (her father) in the same town. If I was relying on single-source research to fill my family tree, my relatives would be all over the place and they would compound the errors as I began to justify the research errors. In proper journalism, there's an old adage, "If your mothers says she loves you, check it out." In genealogy, if you found your parent's name in the research, check it out. Verify, verify, verify! You can never research enough sources to verify information about the same person. We have all found inconsistencies with birthdates for our grandparents -- you may also be trying to verify the wrong grandparents! -- Alan On May 31, 2008, at 7:24 AM, ACzubek@aol.com wrote: > I've noticed some recent postings from apparent newer gen researchers. > > A word of caution-just because something is on the web, doesn't make > it correct. > > While surfing around, I typed in my maternal surname- Chelminiak. > Actually I was looking for a cousin's email address. I found a site > that listed my grandfather in a family tree. Wasn't really > comparing the facts until I reached my mother in the tree. She was > listed as Marie, not Mary. After 40 years of asking "what was his/ > her real name?" including what was your name, I think she would have > said her name was different then what was on all her legal documents. > > So I backed up a bit. My grandfather DOD was listed as after 1921. > True. He died in the 1950s. Hmmm. Hopefully someone using this data > for their own research would know to check over 30 years to find his > DOD. He was also listed as dying in the wrong state. That can > be a problem. > > To make a long story short -too late. Try to get more than 1 > unrelated source for your facts. > > Anyways, I just wanted to share this with you all. > > I did email the submitter. > Anne in Toledo

I have run into a similar situation. My ex-sister-in-law posted a family tree on Ancestor. A lot of the information is incorrect--she listed two of my aunts that are still alive as dead. She has my grandfather's place of birth incorrect. The last name of my great grandfather is also wrong My mother's name is incorrect and she has listed many members of the family who are still living. I've tried to contact her to remove these errors, but either she is no longer subscribes to Ancestor.com or ignores the messages. I am particularly concerned about the two aunts that are still living. I have the documents that will back up my information. I don't know what she had for documentation. ----- Original Message ----- From: <ACzubek@aol.com> To: "Poland Roots" <POLAND-ROOTS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2008 9:24 AM Subject: [POLAND] Perils of internet data > I've noticed some recent postings from apparent newer gen researchers. > > A word of caution-just because something is on the web, doesn't make it > correct. > > While surfing around, I typed in my maternal surname- Chelminiak. > Actually I was looking for a cousin's email address. I found a site that > listed my grandfather in a family tree. Wasn't really comparing the facts > until I reached my mother in the tree. She was listed as Marie, not Mary. > After 40 years of asking "what was his/her real name?" including what was > your name, I think she would have said her name was different then what > was on all her legal documents. > > So I backed up a bit. My grandfather DOD was listed as after 1921. True. > He died in the 1950s. Hmmm. Hopefully someone using this data for their > own research would know to check over 30 years to find his DOD. He was > also listed as dying in the wrong state. That can be a problem. > > To make a long story short -too late. Try to get more than 1 unrelated > source for your facts. > > Anyways, I just wanted to share this with you all. > > I did email the submitter. > Anne in Toledo > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > > ********************************* > Need to contact the list manager? Write to Marie at > Poland-Roots-admin@rootsweb.com > ---------------------------------- > Discussion of Polish food, culture, and customs are welcome on the list as > long as the discussion stays pertinent to the topic of this list: > researching our Polish roots. > ---------------------------------- > Browse the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index?list=poland-roots > Search the list's archives here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/search?aop=1 > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > POLAND-ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message