The Messy Side of Online Family Trees

Believe it or not your online tree can get quite messy if you aren't paying close attention. In the past couple of years it seems like my tree has taken on the persona of my kitchen sink, piling up with dishes and having no idea where they came from. Moreover, the process of cleaning and putting them away where they belong becomes a long and arduous process because they show up without any proper identification. Because of that, I now occasionally peruse my tree looking for anything that doesn't add up or belong.

Recently I found a scathing error. Can you identify the problem?

I am sure if I dig deeper I would uncover more discrepancies, however the most glaring one that immediately stood out was that of the youngest son, Lafayette Finch. Here his birth year is listed as 1835 which is significantly after the death of his parents. Specifically, 57 years after his "father" died and 10 years after his "mother" died. So what information is incorrect? The "parent's" death dates? Lafayette's birth year? Is the parent-child relationship wrong? The husband-wife relationship? So many questions.

Looking for errors in your tree can be a simple way to do a little family history work. Call it a "Spring Cleaning" of your tree. Don't worry if you don't know how to correct the problem. In fact it is much better to not fix it right away without first doing an exhaustive research to resolve the problem.

So when you find an error on your tree, what do you do next? The most important thing is to provide documentation of the error to prevent a negative residual effect of the error from perpetuating and also so that other researchers are aware and can potentially start the process to resolve the conflicting information. Don't delete the person, that creates more problems. Below are instructions to add a note documenting the error in the FamilySearch online tree:

• Click on the ancestor's profile that has the error and click on the details tab.

• Scroll down on the right side until you find the notes section.

• From there you click the plus sign to add a note.

• When you have finished typing the note, save it and it will put an alert on the ancestor's profile indicating that there is important research information that needs to be reviewed prior to making any changes.

In five minutes a day you can make a big difference. I wish spring cleaning my house could be that simple, just identify the problem and make a note that there is a mess someone needs to clean up. Well, that's the beauty of genealogy, it's a family thing and we work on this together. You do what you can, then I will do what I can, and then someone else will do what they can. It's a collaborative effort for a mission to ensure that nobody gets left behind or forgotten.