On-Line Family trees
By Angelo Coniglio
Genealogy research in the twenty-first century has aspects that were undreamed of even twenty years ago. One of these is the ability to post our ‘pedigrees’ or family trees on-line at a variety of venues, to view and even modify trees placed on line by others, and to find potential extensions to our own trees. This has led to many concerns, especially by novice researchers, about the ‘sanctity’ and security of information they have in their trees, and about the best way to utilize what can be a valuable but sometimes counterproductive resource.
Major on-line venues like the subscription sites Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com, as well as free sites like familysearch.org entice new members to immediately start ‘building’ family trees on-line on their sites. Many new researchers do so, lured by the ‘hints’ the sites may offer towards finding relatives, and the capability of connecting and collaborating with others researching the same families or places of origin. I believe that starting and building your family tree on-line, and making that your primary tree, is a MAJOR MISTAKE.
Genealogy research in the twenty-first century has aspects that were undreamed of even twenty years ago. One of these is the ability to post our ‘pedigrees’ or family trees on-line at a variety of venues, to view and even modify trees placed on line by others, and to find potential extensions to our own trees. This has led to many concerns, especially by novice researchers, about the ‘sanctity’ and security of information they have in their trees, and about the best way to utilize what can be a valuable but sometimes counterproductive resource.
Major on-line venues like the subscription sites Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com, as well as free sites like familysearch.org entice new members to immediately start ‘building’ family trees on-line on their sites. Many new researchers do so, lured by the ‘hints’ the sites may offer towards finding relatives, and the capability of connecting and collaborating with others researching the same families or places of origin. I believe that starting and building your family tree on-line, and making that your primary tree, is a MAJOR MISTAKE.
Some of these venues, such as Ancestry, let users designate whether a tree is ‘Private’, seen only by its creator and those specifically invited (a ‘Guest’, ‘Contributor’ or ‘Editor’); or ‘Public’, viewable by anyone using Ancestry, and added to or changed by those you designate. Ancestry can collaborate or ‘sync’ with software programs, which can be purchased to be used to develop your tree off-line. An attractive feature is that if you also subscribe to Ancestry, items in your off-line tree will often show ‘leafs’ which, when clicked, MAY lead you to on-line information or documents about persons in your tree. The free Mormon site familysearch has a tree called ‘Family Tree’. In it, any user can change almost any piece of information, regardless of whether he/she originally added it. The site warns: “You may be concerned that other people may change your carefully researched and documented information to something less correct”; and “Evidence may be contradictory. Incorrect family legends are common. Disagreement can arise.” The purpose of this and other on-line trees is to create ONE ‘world’ tree, which connects everyone. They indicate that there are controls over incorrect, un-sourced information. However I feel that any ‘world’ tree that doesn’t require strong documentation for every ‘fact’, or allows un-sourced changes, is flawed.
Many researchers are drawn to on-line trees, and build large databases there, with family photos, documents, etc. They put detailed, documented and sourced facts in their tree, and after devoting much time and effort, find that others (whether invited, as on Ancestry, or globally welcomed, as on familysearch) have modified their trees, added faulty information, or otherwise corrupted their work. By then, many have made such an emotional investment in the on-line tree that they resist moving their trees off line.
Neither Ancestry, familysearch nor any other on line tree should be your primary family tree. Any on-line tree may be a useful but unreliable backup. Start, build, and update your tree on your computer, with an off line program (several are available). Make it your primary tree. Back up the tree to an external hard drive or other backup device. If you already have a tree only on line, I suggest you download it to your computer and use an off line program to make it your primary tree. Many assume that on-line images are ‘in’ their on-line trees, but many aren’t: only the links to the images exist. These images will not download to your off-line tree. You must go to their links and save them to your computer. This may be tedious, but worth it in the long run.
To see hints, reach others for collaboration, or make your tree ‘public’, upload it from your primary file to Ancestry, Rootsweb.com, etc. Don't assume that you ‘own’ the on-line tree. Anyone viewing it can use the information elsewhere. Regardless of your pride of ownership, once it’s on line it’s ‘fair game’. If you have photos in your on-line tree and don’t want them copied, mark them across the image with some descriptive text. If you get on-line ‘hints’, track them down and save the information/images on your off-line tree. Then if someone ‘steals’ or modifies your on-line tree, or the venue crashes, goes out of business or sells your tree to another vendor, you'll still have your un-compromised tree on your computer and your secure backup devices.
I prefer to keep photos and documents in my off-line tree and upload only data to a public tree. That way, others researching the names and places can see them and contact me if they like, but can't take the photos to use in ways I don’t approve of.
Coniglio is the author of the book The Lady of the Wheel, inspired by his Sicilian research. Order the paperback or the Kindle version at http://bit.ly/SicilianStory Coniglio’s web page at http://bit.ly/AFCGen has helpul hints on genealogic research. If you have genealogy questions, or would like him to lecture to your club or group, e-mail him at genealogytips@aol.com
