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Four Pro Tips for Building Your Online Family Tree with Confidence and Accuracy

Writer's picture: tristathegenealogisttristathegenealogist
A smiling woman researching on her laptop with a cup of coffee

Are you thinking about building an online family tree to learn about your family’s history? Here are four tips that can set you up for success.


Creating an online family tree is an exciting journey, but it's important to avoid some common mistakes that can lead you, or others, down the wrong path. Here are four simple tips to help you create an accurate and reliable family tree online:


  • Carefully consider all Family Tree Hints you receive before incorporating them into your family tree.

  • Always verify the accuracy of genealogy records before attaching them to your family tree.

  • Cite your sources when adding information to your family tree.

  • Be mindful of Family Tree Etiquette when interacting with other users and their trees.


By following these tips, you'll be on your way to uncovering your family's past and creating a meaningful legacy for future generations. So, let's get started on this amazing journey together!

 

But First, a Cautionary Tale...

Once upon a time, an acquaintance and I had a mutual interest in a family I was researching. We were both told there was native American blood in the family, but no one knew the name of the tribe or whose line it occurred on. I hit a brick wall early on when I couldn’t find the parents of Robert Henderson Charles in order to break through to the next generation. I decided to step away for a while, hoping there would be something more to find later.


Soon after, my friend, who was new to family history research, claimed to have found Robert's parents' names and the tribe he belonged to. I had already gone down that path but didn't have enough information to confirm I had found the right Robert. I decided to put it aside and not add it to the family tree just yet. Three years later (yes, three years), I discovered Robert’s obituary in a newly uploaded archive. It included his mother's name and proved the info my cohort had applied to his version of the tree was for the wrong Robert Henderson Charles.


What are the odds another person would have the same first, middle, and last name, be born in the same state within one or two years of our Robert Henderson Charles, AND have Native American ancestry? The odds are pretty good! You'd be surprised just how many people share similar identities. Imagine how many researchers saved that misinformation to their trees in three years and continue to share it to this day.


Let's move on to our list of tips!

 

1. Thoughtfully Evaluate Family Tree Hints

I know! I know! Those little green leaves telling you they may have new information about your ancestor are oh-so-tempting.


Almost every new researcher falls victim to this pitfall, and with more and more hobbyist researchers joining genealogy websites hoping to learn about their families, the amount of misinformation plaguing the "interwebs" grows exponentially. Hints are generated when there is a potential association with your ancestor. It could be a historical document with a similar name, place, date of birth, or other details. It is then up to the researcher to do the work to prove or disprove its validity.

 

A screenshot of a list of family names from a genealogy website

2. Verify Before Attaching Genealogy Records

Speaking of hints… The absolute WORST hints to accept are from other users’ family trees. If you read my story at the top of this post, I don’t have to tell you what to do with these. When a user inputs incorrect information into their public tree, and you copy it to your public tree, it spreads like wildfire, and there’s no way to stop it.


To be sure you’re passing on accurate information, you’ll need to use multiple sources, as close to the original life event as possible (click here to read more about primary sources), to cross-reference your info. If anything disproves the connection, put it in your shoebox, write it down, or save it however works best for you, but DO NOT attach it to your family tree.


You can also derail your research and risk tripping up other researchers by attaching documents that don’t belong to your ancestor. Not only can this steer you in the wrong direction, but it will also generate more erroneous hints! By finding multiple sources of the same information, you can confirm that your record is relevant to the person you’re researching. There’s no rush. Take the extra time and be patient. By validating your findings, you safeguard your own research and ensure that the information you share is reliable.

 

3. Embrace Citing Your Sources

Citing your sources is essential for several reasons. First, it directs future researchers to where your information came from. It adds credibility to your research and reminds you where you discovered your information when you refer back to it, which you will likely need to do.


Citing your sources also credits authors, societies, websites, and other researchers whose work you may have referenced in your research.


The good news is most family tree-building websites have built-in source citations as long as you’re finding your records through their search engine with a subscription. In the case of Ancestry.com, you can use the provided fields to manually add your citation information to uploaded documents, even if you don’t have a subscription.


There are specific elements to a citation, but don’t worry. There’s no need to sign up for a class on formatting source citations. Several online generators will create a copy-and-paste citation with just a few pieces of information. Grammarly, MyBib, and Quillbot, to name a few.


A form requesting source data to generate a properly formatted citation
An example of some of the information you can provide to cite a source on Ancestry.com

 4. Observe Family Tree Etiquette

Sharing all media, photos, stories, etc., from the original post is common courtesy. That way, it will always point back to the person who originally shared it.


This is more of a moral issue than a research standard, but I feel it’s important to share. I can’t tell you how many times in my years of building trees for clients and working on my own research, I’ve received a hint pointing me to something I uploaded in the first place. I believe in the importance of sharing information with anyone who might need it, however I can’t help but to feel a pang of frustration each time this happens.


A notepad with the words "Do the right thing"

I’ve seen photos that I dug up in a family archive or box I was given or even taken off the wall in my grandparents' house proudly shared by a stranger in a family history Facebook group. Once, I was even handed printed copies of my public tree at a family reunion as evidence of that person’s “research.”


Now that you hear these examples from the perspective of the “original poster,” I hope it’s clear why it’s important to always give credit to the original sources of photos, stories, and other data that you use. This helps to build a sense of community and appreciation among people interested in genealogy. Photos do not “belong” to individuals, and I believe in sharing and keeping my personal tree public so others can learn about their family from the work I’ve done, but it’s just the right thing to acknowledge the person who first shared it with you.

 

Keep your family’s stories alive. Contact me at hello@tristathegenealogist.com or through the contact page on my website, and together, we can ensure that your legacy lives on for generations to come. Don't wait until it's too late.


Trista the Genealogist smiling in a yellow circle with a t-shirt that says, "Who's Your Daddy?"


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