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I am so confused...


Lainey

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I got some of my family tree information from my second cousin, who gave me my maternal grandfather's family tree. She gave me his parents' names, grandparents', and I think great-grandparents.

 

BUT!!!

 

I was talking with a relative on 23andMe, and he told me about a Mormon site that has family tree information, and you can even get information from other people's trees, just like on Ancestry.com (but it's free!). So I started up with that, and I got a match with my great-grandmother's rather unique name. The other tree had her name, her husband (my great-grandfather)'s name, and they were a match. But then the other tree had completely different people as their parents. BUT, it also had the names that I had for my g-grandparents, except they were born much later and died in the late 90s. So they couldn't be my g-grandparents. I am so confused; I have no idea who's right, and I don't know how/if I can contact the person who did the other tree.

 

Plus, on my dad's side, I found my grandfather, and it listed his mother, but her last name was completely different than the one I heard! So I don't know where that came from, either.

 

Anyone else find confusing things like this in their research?

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I got some of my family tree information from my second cousin, who gave me my maternal grandfather's family tree. She gave me his parents' names, grandparents', and I think great-grandparents.

BUT!!!

I was talking with a relative on 23andMe, and he told me about a Mormon site that has family tree information, and you can even get information from other people's trees, just like on Ancestry.com (but it's free!). So I started up with that, and I got a match with my great-grandmother's rather unique name. The other tree had her name, her husband (my great-grandfather)'s name, and they were a match. But then the other tree had completely different people as their parents. BUT, it also had the names that I had for my g-grandparents, except they were born much later and died in the late 90s. So they couldn't be my g-grandparents. I am so confused; I have no idea who's right, and I don't know how/if I can contact the person who did the other tree.

Plus, on my dad's side, I found my grandfather, and it listed his mother, but her last name was completely different than the one I heard! So I don't know where that came from, either.

Anyone else find confusing things like this in their research?

As I general rule of thumb, I don't trust any genealogy that I didn't do myself or wasn't done by a certified/professional genealogist, particularly if it came off the internet. When the online genealogy came along people would just type in names and if it looked right or even looked close they would accept it as fact.* Everything fact in your tree should be documented (i.e. birth/death/marriage certificates, family bibles, letters, wills, etc.) and remember that sometimes the documents themselves are wrong (in my research I've found this to be especially true of censuses). As much as I hate to say it, if I were you I would start with a generation that you're sure about (I'm guessing your grandparents) and starting re-researching and re-documenting everything.

*I've seen online trees that show people having children both under the age of 13 and over the age of 50 (which doesn't work for women in the 16th and 17th centuries)

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You are right, of course. I am one of those who will accept something if it looks right. But I've never encountered completely different names before. That was bizarre and new to me.

Where does one find a certified/professional genealogist?

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