Genealogy Chat

As OC says, just because a relative - even a close one - tells you something about the family, it doesn't mean it's so. For example, my father always believed what he'd been told - that he'd been born abroad, where his father died after mum and baby returned home. It's entered in his Confirmation details, and he went to his grave believing it (as far as I can tell, that is - nothing is certain!) When I started searching via this site and BMD info this year, I discovered his birth cert, with the real details - born in Poole! Where his younger sister was also born, and no father on birth certs, though mother had 'new' surname - but no marriage cert. (Not much hope of tracing my g'father, then!) So - get the certs! If they're wrong, there's a good website - BMDexchange - where you can 'swop' them, or check on the sister site, BMDshare, first - someone may already have them, and you can check the details there. Happy hunting, whether it's 'for fun' or in deadly earnest! Bee.

Just to add a bit of levity to this. I was once contacted by someone on this site whose ancestors were in my tree, but were not on my direct line. There was some controversy over who was who in this family, so I had bought a few certs in order to clarify the situation. This person, who had obviously NOT been alerted to the obvious inconsistencies and had not bought ANY certs, decided that as the individuals concerned were closer to her, and on her direct line, not mine, it was only right that I should give her the certificates! After I stopped laughing (that kind of hysterical laughter, arising from shock, lol), I considered that she might not understand that anyone can order any number of copies of a certificate and that there isn't 'a' single certificate that just one person can own. I suggested that she might like to order her own copies, or alternatively, I could send her photcopies of mine. No, that wouldn't do. Could I not see that it would be more appropriate for me to take copies for myself, and send her the originals? They were, afterall, her ancestors! Needless to say, she got nothing. Priceless!

LOL, as you say priceless!! Mary

What an interesting thread. I'm happy to share my tree with anyone who's interested and also happy for anyone to take what they want from it. I am also eternally grateful to the many wonderful people (cousins!) I've met on genes who have happily shared not only their trees with me but photos, cuttings from newspapers and stories. It's a great hobby providing hours of fun but like anything in life you'll always meet a few people who are rum and are best ignored ;-0 Anyway, I'm eternally grateful to all those who've helped me and here's hoping I've helped people too!

I too am always happy to share any information when I establish a definite connection but I prefer to send a gedcom because I don't find the GR tree system particularly user friendly. However, I recently had a situation which made me regret sharing information. I had a contact from someone last year who claimed to be descended from my 2xgreat grandfather's brother whom I had not at that time researched. She showed me her tree and all the people in it only had approximate dates of birth etc. I sent her a gedcom of the whole of this family (6 generations)and then began to research the common relative. I purchased his birth and marriage certificates and located him in census records with his wife and children. However, the information in this other person's tree did not tally with mine as the so called common relative had a different wife, children and occupation. I sent her a message to tell her I thought we were not connected after all and gave her the information I had discovered about this relative. I assumed that she would respond but as she didn't, I forgot about it until a few days ago when I was going through my contact list and came across her tree. I discovered that she had added my 2xgreat grandfather, 2 other siblings (she had missed 2) and my 3xgreat grandparents! I have sent her a message telling her once again that she has incorrect information and we are not connected but she has yet to respond. Having said all that, I have had lots of positive connections from this site and have received (and given) a great deal of information which I ALWAYS check out before adding to my tree. Also, I always ask permission from the tree owner to add their information rather than just taking it for granted that they don't mind.

nudge..... because this is a very interesting thread!