I recently had a problem on FamilySearch.org.
I love this site. It is free. You can add photos and copies of documents so other family members can have copies. Love it. It is easy to use, read and move around.
But, do not assume that the information there is correct! It isn't always but it can help.
I post this to illustrate problems that occur and to ask people not to do this on FamilySearch to someone else.
But, do not assume that the information there is correct! It isn't always but it can help.
Problem
I noticed last month that someone had changed the spelling of my mother's maiden name! So I changed it back and emailed the person who had changed it.
Why did you change my mother's information? She is a MacKellar. Mac not Mc. Her father, my grandfather had his name changed back to Mac like his grandfather had it. His father changed it to Mc but my grandfather changed it back to Mac.
This is the response I received
So sorry. I was trying to make it all the same. You may change it any way you like. You are the direct family member.
When in genealogy work have you seen things be "all the same"! Obviously, this person has not done genealogy or genealogical research.
· Nothing is "all the same", ever!
· You don't change spellings of names to make them "all the same" unless you have source documentation!
I am sure every genealogist reading this is shaking their head wondering what that person was thinking.
Problem with FamilySearch
It was nice of her to give me permission to correct her mistake on my mother's file. [Not sure how to make this sound sarcastic on the blog!! But that was pure sarcasm!]
She does touch on the problem with FamilySearch's website, when she said, "You may change it any way you like. You are the direct family member."
Anyone can go into anybody's family tree and make changes. At least it does tell us who made the change and you can change it back and email them ask why they would do something so stupid but what a pain.
Yes, I can change it back, but why should I need to do that. Why would you go into someone else's family line and do that? She is not direct family. I know she said to make it consistent. I am sure there are other things like indexing this person should be doing instead of making changes to people without documentation to back it up.
And if this was an ancestor that I did not know as well I might not have caught on to this spelling change. This could really confuse or mess up someone else trying to do their genealogy. How many times have you missed an ancestor or hit a brick wall because someone spelled a name differently?
I am now going to go through that family line to see what other changes have been made. The spelling she chose to "make them consistent" is only used once in several generations; the spelling that only one person in 6 generations used. Everyone else has Mac, my great grandfather changed it to Mc.
So what do you do?
How do you know what in FamilySearch is correct?
It was nice of her to give me permission to correct her mistake on my mother's file. [Not sure how to make this sound sarcastic on the blog!! But that was pure sarcasm!]
She does touch on the problem with FamilySearch's website, when she said, "You may change it any way you like. You are the direct family member."
Anyone can go into anybody's family tree and make changes. At least it does tell us who made the change and you can change it back and email them ask why they would do something so stupid but what a pain.
Yes, I can change it back, but why should I need to do that. Why would you go into someone else's family line and do that? She is not direct family. I know she said to make it consistent. I am sure there are other things like indexing this person should be doing instead of making changes to people without documentation to back it up.
And if this was an ancestor that I did not know as well I might not have caught on to this spelling change. This could really confuse or mess up someone else trying to do their genealogy. How many times have you missed an ancestor or hit a brick wall because someone spelled a name differently?
I am now going to go through that family line to see what other changes have been made. The spelling she chose to "make them consistent" is only used once in several generations; the spelling that only one person in 6 generations used. Everyone else has Mac, my great grandfather changed it to Mc.
So what do you do?
How do you know what in FamilySearch is correct?
· Check out the sources listed.
· Verify what information it has.
· If there are no sources, use it as a guideline and go find sources to prove or disprove what you are seeing. It might be right or it might steer you in the right direction but don't assume it is right.
How to make it a better site?
· Add photos
· Add documents
· Put in the sources
· Don't change any body's information unless you have the document and put that source with the person.
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