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Well that's certainly a thought Janet. I'm quite lucky in that respect because all my Dad's side come from Bedfordshire and all Mum's side from West Yorkshire. On the other hand OH's are from a lot of different places.
Anne
Anne
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On Ancestry you can add notes or comments to an individual's overview page. If you want others to view your public tree and see the extra info you have added then you should use the comments NOT notes. Notes can only be viewed by the owner and by those invited to the tree as an "Editor".Originally posted by margaretmarch View PostKat
My avatar is my mother 1921 - 2012Comment
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I was thinking more of putting something alongside the source records to explain any discrepancies/inconsistencies. For instance in the description box for a fact but will have a look at Notes & Comments to see what scope is offered there as I would want everything to be viewable in due course.Originally posted by Katarzyna View Post
MargaretComment
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Anne, my thinking is that the great thing about giving part (or all of it) to a record office is that it will be there for consultation by anyone interested enough to actually make the journey there.
Another possibility for anyone with Norfolk roots is to make a copy available to Norwich & Norfolk FHS, who have their own library building and collection.
I am very happy for my research (in depth family studies and also notes on a village) and references & resource notes to be made available to serious researchers; I'm less happy about displaying the results of three decades of work on the internet for others to mangle. Also, I would prefer to donate "paper" copies complete with certificates, copies of wills, photos etc - someone would have a job to stagger unseen out of the CRO; putting it on a memory stick would soon be out of date and I can't see archivists having either time or inclination to update the technology.
JayJanet in Yorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family treeComment
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Yes, good points you make Janet. Lots of food for thought.
AnneComment
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OCOriginally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
Apparently when they first allowed GEDCOM uploads there, sources & dates were very lacking. Now they are getting stricter, and volunteers are cleaning up a lot of the early profiles, merging duplicates and adding sources. Also some of the early GEDCOMs uploaded have been abandoned by the submitters and not being updated unless someone else adopts them.
I suppose it's the same with all sites, you get some bad with the good, but it is getting better.
VivianComment
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Vivian
Yes, I can see there is an earnest attempt to improve things by adding sources, but the one I looked at had loads of sources, all of which were "Ancestry trees" lol.
The thing is, by its very nature it can never be 100% accurate, so I really prefer to keep my own tree away from possible corruption by others!
(That is not to suggest my tree is perfect, I'm sure it isn't, but MY sources are mostly primary sources which I have researched for myself).
OCComment
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I know just how OC feels:
There is a very extensive tree on the web that includes a lot of my family.
It is just plain wrong.
The authors will not accept that my father is the child of his parents, despite me having provided documentary evidence. And, I am not alone in having problems with this particular tree. Now, there is an attitude that if there is one mistake (let alone four or more) how can anyone be sure that all of it is not one big mistake without checking all the stuff relevant to yourself all over again.
Even official data can be wrong:
The first publication of the 1901 census had three of by great-aunts living together but their name Poole had been transcribed as Coole. I reported this, but in the second edition they had been changed to "male"! So I have a great-uncle called Adelaide Louise.
GeoffComment
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QUOTE "how can anyone be sure that all of it is not one big mistake without checking all the stuff relevant to yourself all over again."
But that's exactly what I would encourage people to do! To just copy someone else's tree seems completley pointless to me. I know plenty do it and that's their lookout. I would hope there will always be those out there looking out for suggestions about my families that they can follow up for themselves. After all, my tree would stay unaltered for those who come after me to compare with others. Maybe they would think mine was wrong but at least the thoughts are out there and not hidden away.
AnneComment
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You would never know if later all that was not digitised and published to save office/storage space and then it's online!Originally posted by Janet in Yorkshire View Post
I don't think we can ignore the internet - it's now and the future and in generations to come they will not have the paper we cling to. Once your paper records are digitised they are there for ever at no cost - keeping all the paper for ever is untenable. Some important papers will be kept but other will not survive.
All we can hope for is that someone is interested enough to look for us and our ancestors and be grateful we have done a lot of the work for them and have it properly sourced.
MargaretComment
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At present, my local CRO have no plans (nor money) to digitise anything in their strong room, let alone the paper files available on a help yourself basis on open shelves in the fiche/computer section of the public search area.
A lot of this paperwork is files of transcriptions of hard to read microfiche - all done as a labour of love by a band of volunteers. At present the staff seem happy to take anything on offer; it is a relatively new building housing the old record office and also the old central library. I remember asking at the local studies room in the old library twelve years ago what they had for my village - out came a brief pamphlet (which I'd helped to write) and a book about a family who shared a surname, but no connection, with my village. On my next trip, I took a couple of transcriptions I'd made of pamphlets still held in private hands; these are only available to the public using the secure search room. So, I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to take my annotated and sourced notes on some aspects of village history and personalities and also my file of newspaper articles. (If there's breech of copyright it won't be my problem; I understand you can't be sued once you're deceased!)
I can't see there'd be a rush to digitise my papers - there's loads of other really good stuff in there (family papers of the high and mighty etc) that would keep them busy for years to come, IF they had the finances.
I'm sure it WILL come, but not in the near future, for my input.
JayLast edited by Janet in Yorkshire; 10-09-14, 12:48.Janet in Yorkshire
Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family treeComment
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And having read through this thread several times, I am coming to the conclusion that the record office for the main relevant counties, and the FHS for the same counties should each have a copy of the relevant gedcom for free. I am just a bit reluctant to pass it on to a commercial site.
There is an ethical issue in that if more than one person has worked on a tree, then each should have a say in where it goes to rest (and in my own case, everyone involved gets an updated gedcom on a regular basis).
That's my opinion - if you don't like it, I may have others.
GeoffComment
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I have to say that in my long research life (!) I have found the various archives such as County Records Offices, Town Archives etc to be the source of the richest family history material. Wonderful though the internet is, it can only ever display a fraction of what is available and the number of frankly rubbish trees makes my heart sink.
I have found superb trees in CROs and libraries. They will never come on line, as Jay says because there just is not the money available to do the work. So my tree and all my work will be going to the relevant CRO where it can be found by those who really want to see it.
OCComment
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LOL, Geoff. Love that saying ... not heard it before. Of course we all have different points of view, which was what I hoped to hear about when I started this thread. Thanks everyone who has joined in and all those unseen who have read it.
AnneComment
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It really boils down to. Do you believe in life after death OC?Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
If the answer is yes then your ancestors are in the position to accept or refuse the proxy baptism.
If the answer is no then the proxy baptism has no effect as they no longer exist.
Cheers
GuyGuy passed away October 2022Comment
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Before anyone decides what they are going to do with their research I suggest they contact the archive, record office society or company and see if their research would be accepted.
Back in 1999 I started accepting research (to host online) from others as societies like the SoG and archives were refusing to take research as they had no storage facilities.
Later the SoG started accepting some research but don't go thinking they will accept everything and don't think even if they do it will be retained intact.
Cheers
GuyGuy passed away October 2022Comment
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Guy
No, that's not quite what I meant - I couldn't care less if the LDS baptise ME after I'm dead, but I don't feel I have the right to put my DEAD ancestors in the position of having to accept or refuse the baptism. I just feel it's a bit sneaky and I would feel the same no matter which religion chose to do it, it's not the baptism as such, it's the taking advantage I don't want.
At the moment, the CRO of my choice is accepting pretty much everything, for which I am personally very grateful, as I found some stunning information I wasn't even looking for in a scrapbook they had accepted.
OCComment
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But you are quite happy to refuse them the option they might be crying out for (if life after death is a reality). If life after death exists they are not being taken advantage of they are being offered an option that may not exist in the afterlife.Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
If life after death is a myth then they are still not being taken advantage of as they no longer exist.
Seems to me a win win situation.
That is excellent news many refuse even important current records from companies schools etc.Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
I know of one excellent archive here in Yorkshire that includes a good number of records manuscripts etc. thrown out by the local archives.
Cheers
GuyGuy passed away October 2022Comment
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Guy
In the same way that I would not direct members of the Mormon church to the doorsteps of my living relatives on the offchance that they might be willing to be converted to the faith, I would not direct my dead ancestors to a place which would ensure that they were asked a question they didn't wish to be asked! My stance is that spiritual decisions are best made by the living for themselves without any undue pressure or anyone having an unfair advantage.
Cornwall Records Office is still taking "anything". About two years ago I rather hesitantly offered them quite a lot of stuff, thinking they wouldn't want it as it was trivial (about 40 years of "stuff" from a lady who ran a Cub Scouts group) and also some records of a now-defunct local theatre group. They accepted all it with every appearance of delight!
OCComment
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