Is it just me

[Ann In the UK]

It might be a gripe to add here
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews261156.html which Ancestry themselves are asking for feedback on via their FB page.

Ann

[Genetrix]

The ones that upset me are those who don't even bother to answer your message. I've found my family on several trees belonging to others and of 17 messages I've sent, only 6 answered me. Why put your tree on Ancestry if you're not interested in hearing from other family members? Such a waste of time and effort. I was excited to find a couple of trees that went way beyond mine where I'd hit a brick wall. I had a Hugh McIntyre born 1749 in Kilmartin - parents John McIntyre and Anne Campbell. I couldn't find any further information on the parents and was very excited when both these trees showed Ann Campbell's father as Colin Campbell and went back many generations before that. (Colin Campbell McIntyre is a name that's been repeated in my family and Campbell has been used as a middle name for many generations). Not wanting to just take their word for it, I sent a message to both asking where I could find documented evidence of Ann's parentage but was sorely disappointed to hear nothing from either of them. I waited for some time and then sent a follow-up. Still no reply from either of them. Their trees went right back to 210 BC and made very interesting reading, but I can only conclude they have no proof of a true connection at all.

[hg]

I know Genetrix, completely agree. I even had someone who found me, sent me a message but ignored my response Have made my tree private now.

[Alan SHARP]

Greetings.

Unfortunately another issue is that technology is moving so fast that e-contact details keep changing for many people, but they never get around to updating their publically posted contacts. I have tried in vane to make contact with some researcher's who's contact details are only five years old, but a little research proves that that service provider no longer exsists in that format.

Oh the joys of research.

Alan SHARP.

[Currie]

Anyone claiming to have a tree going back to 210 B.C. would be a bit of a worry. I’m back about 5 or 6 generations, that’s only about 95 left to go.

I think I would play safe and stay away from them. You never know what they’ll do next.

Alan

[Genetrix]

Alan: I never took their information seriously and assumed that once they hit the 6th Earl of Lochawe (3 generations back from Colin Campbell) they just resorted to Burke's Peerage and the history books. Their tree went back to Cleopatra I of Syria, passing Mary (mother of Jesus) on the way. It was quite entertaining but not, I'm sure, related to my tree in any way (and probably not their's either).

[StewL]

Wow! Passing Mary on the way, that is some family tree
I managed to get back 6-7 generations on one of my mothers lines, thanks also to the help of more than one researcher, so names etc. matched with other folk. Dads oh well not nearly as far back as mums.
I now feel I have reached the end of the line, unless I can get hold of the tardis. But I am not in it to see how many lines I can get on my tree, so what started off as a social work project just grew once the bug bit
My biggest thrills came when I got documents (bc's etc) from GROS, not much scandal in my lot, that came much much later
I did notice that the drink runs a bit down my dads line, but oh well not a great drama. I like a beer myself.

[johnniegarve]

Earl of Lochawe?

[Montrose Budie]

Earl of Lochawe?

Hmmmmm..... there wisna wan ......but, In 1445, Sir Duncan of Loch Awe was created Lord Campbell. In 1457, his grandson Colin was created 1st Earl of Argyll.

Sounds to me like an over eager researcher with no real knowledge of the Scottish Peerage !

mb

PS

Roy Stockdill's rant on the subject is worth a read ................

FIND ALL YOUR ANCESTORS ONLINE!

© Roy Stockdill July 2005

WELCOME to my super-fast instant ancestry programme! I am proud to announce the launch of an exciting new service for wannabe family historians who find research the old-fashioned way rather boring. You, too, can have a family tree back to Adam and Eve ENTIRELY from the Internet!!! Here is an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, never-to-be repeated offer.....

SEND me $10,000, your date of birth, your chest and inside leg measurements, the location of the pub where your granny met your grandad and the name of that milkman with the hairy nose that your Auntie Maude had the wild affair with - and I guarantee I will have your family tree at least back to Nebuchadnezzar the Daft of Outer Mongolia in the 3rd century BC before you can say "IGI" !!!

NO more listening to boring old farts droning on how about how you need to read a book on family history. Books - outdated, who needs 'em?

NO more need to visit dreary old Record Offices or waste your precious time looking at boring bits of paper covered in squiggly writing that you can't understand anyway.

NO more need to listen to self-appointed, so-called experts who try to tell you they can help you just because they've been in genealogy since March 1897 and who will try and persuade you to join a family history society where you will meet hordes of equally boring people who also think they know it all.

Guaranteed Results !!!

I absolutely guarantee you a family tree you can be proud of, one that will show your descent from such famous historical figures as Mary Queen of Scots, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Francis Drake, William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, the Norse god Woden, Charles II's head coachman's illegitimate son, a 4th cousin twice removed of Henry VIII, Cyril the Incontinent of Babylon, Frederick the Flatulent of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Baron Frankenstein, Joan Collins and the Man in the Off-Licence Round the Corner.

How do I do it? Simple - I log onto the Internet, spend half an hour or so trawling the world wide web and - bingo! - there is your Instant Family Tree! Here's how it works...

First, I find the marriage of your great-granny on the IGI, then I find someone of the same name who was born in a parish 100 miles away from where she was married, so that's bound to be her, isn't it? Then I e-mail this mate of mine who specialises in doing look-ups from the 1861 census [which hasn't been indexed] in places like London, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow.

He sticks a pin in anywhere on the census and gives me a couple more names to work with. I reckon they have as much chance as being your gt-gt-grandparents as anyone else, so it's back to the Net. I feed the names into umpteen databases and websites until I come up with someone of the same name who claims to be descended from Edward III. Ah, yes, this looks as good a bet as any. Nobody is going to notice if I casually slip your gt-gt-grandad and granny into a GEDCOM that shows they were also descended from Alfred the Great and the monk who did the slopping-out at Whitby Abbey, are they?

So there you have it - a wonderful, Instant Family Tree, and all from the Internet. And what I don't find I simply MAKE UP!!! What could be easier? Apply now for the bargain of all time and discover how to make Internet genealogy really work for you!


Roy Stockdill, Editor, The Journal of One-Name Studies
The Stockdill Family History Society

Web page:- http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/roystock
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org

”Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you. If he does not, why humiliate him?" - Canon Sydney Smith (scholar and humorist 1771-1845)

[Montrose Budie]

Having located that Toy Stockdill rant on my hard disk, I came across this other one, - quite a few years out of date as regards some of the references, but still, I believe, highly relevant, -

mb


ONCE again I am becoming ever so slightly irritated (shades of my
good friend Barney Tyrwhitt-Drake who was driven off this list by the
same thing!) by daft and absurd requests for "lookups" from newcomers
to genealogy who clearly haven't done a single iota of homework
before coming on here and asking naive questions. And please don't
quote me the old response about "The only stupid question is the one
that hasn't been asked," because it ain't true!!! The vast majority
of newcomers' questions could be avoided by taking the trouble to do
just a teensy weensy bit of research for themselves before coming
here. There is a vast amount of material for beginners available on
the GENUKI website and also in those old-fashioned things called
books - which, despite many cuts in public spending, are still
available in big buildings called libraries.

I expect I shall be castigated (yet again) but I make no apologies.
Some of us on this list have been genealogists and family historians
for many years and we are all willing to give of our time to help and
advise newcomers with the benefit of our experience. However, I for
one believe the best way to do this is to try and teach newcomers how
to do it for themselves, NOT to be constantly badgered with requests
for lookups, some of which are absurd and impossible. What's the
point of getting someone else to do your research for you? It's like
the schoolchild who cribs the exam answers off the kid at the next
desk - he may pass the exam but he will never learn anything. So
please do us the courtesy of trying to help yourselves and doing a
bit of basic homework first.

Among absurd requests I include...

1) Requests for census lookups in whole counties and large towns and
cities for which there isn't a surname index. The appropriate
question to ask is: "Does anyone know if there is a surname index for
[such-and-such-a-place] in the census of... [all censuses except the
1881, which is the only one with a surname index for the entire
country]."

2) Requests for the maiden names of brides and names of their parents
when somebody hasn't bothered to obtain the marriage certificate,
or hasn't a clue how to. Even the most basic research on how to get
started in genealogy would tell the newcomer that you can't find this
kind of information just from the indexes, you have to actually buy
the certificate.

It's palpably clear also that most newcomers haven't a clue how to
make use of the extensive facilities available on the LDS website,
familysearch.org, and at LDS Family History Centres. Most requests
for lookups in UK census returns can be answered by the questioner
themselves, by going to the familysearch website and doing a place
name search in the Family History Library Catalog. The Catalog is
also widely available on CD at FHCs. You find the place you are
researching in and, depending on its size, you will normally find a
list of what records the LDS has available on film for that place,
including church records, census returns, poll books, trade
directories, taxation and land records and a host of other records.
You get the film numbers and then you go to your nearest FHC and
order the film from them - parish registers, bishops' transcripts,
census returns, etc, there is a host of records available.

I note from regular messages from some of our friends in Australia,
for instance, who know what they are doing, that they make constant
use of the FHCs. I have a distant cousin in Western Australia who has
researched her Stockdill ancestry in the UK as far back as I have,
and quite independently, without ever visiting Britain in her life
and she has turned up things that even I had missed! She has done it
entirely by using the facilities of her local FHC.

Contrary to popular opinion, we are not all sitting here at our
computers with all the census returns for the whole of the UK at
our fingertips. Doing "lookups" is nowhere near as easy as some
newcomers seem to think. It can often involve an entire day's
work (unpaid!). So, please don't whinge about the lack of record
offices, etc, and not knowing how to do it for yourself. FIND OUT how
to do it! As I said at the start, there are plenty of us here who are
willing to help you, but we don't see it as our duty (well, I
certainly don't) to do lookups when in many cases they would
perfectly easily be done by the questioner themselves.

Roy Stockdill
Editor, the Journal of One-Name Studies
Editor, "My Ancestors Were..." series (Society of Genealogists)
Web page of the Guild of One-Name Studies:- http://www.one-name.org
Newbies' Guide to Genealogy & Family History:- http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs/Newbie.html

Never ask a man if he comes from Yorkshire. If he does he will tell you, if he does not why humiliate him? - Canon Sydney Smith