The Advantages of having an Online Collaborative Tree.

I thought I would share with you something that happened this week.

I have gradually been adding ancestors to the Family Search Family Tree and follow any changes to direct ancestors.

I noticed that someone had added an image to one of my ancestors which turned out to be a copy of a marriage certificate.

As this was her second marriage and I descend from the first marriage I had not sent off for a copy of the certificate, so was pleased to be able to confirm some of the details.

Marriage certificates are not cheap so I decided to contact the person who added the image and say thank you. I also thought that maybe they could have a cousin connection.

Today (2nd July) I received a reply and although we have no genetic connection, as this individual is a descendant from the first marriage of the husband, it is interesting that we have both found the information contained within the certificate to be of value in establishing the father of an ancestor. The first marriage for each party took place prior to the father being named.

In the 1861 census my gt grandfather is to be found in the same household as this person's 2 x gt grandmother. The following year she is marrying in Salt Lake City, Utah.  
She appears to be one of the Utah Pioneers. 
Her name was Huldah Ponton and she was baptized in Warminster, Wiltshire, England on 17 March 1834. Someone on Find a Grave  has entered her birth as London but this does not fit her census record and the fact that both her parents were born in Warminster. I have not been able to find any passenger records for her or her sister Eliza who appears to have married in Salt Lake city in 1857. A third sister also appears to have gone to Utah but exactly when is uncertain.

I would be interested in finding out more about how they traveled all the way from Wiltshire to Utah. 

Documenting Sources in online trees

The genealogy community can be very critical of those who do not cite their sources.
A regular topic that comes up on genealogy forums is the lack of documentation of sources especially on large trees.

I believe there are a number of reasons why the larger online trees do not have sources.

Many people start trees online then give up once they get to grandparents or beyond the people they remember and these trees are often unsourced as they have been produced as a passing whim. There are a large number of these on websites such as Genes Reunited which are free or minimal cost. When they go back to these later they do not think that they have not added information as to where they found out how these people fit in their family.

Very few of us can say we documented all our sources from the start and we can be reluctant to go back and add them later, even though it may save us time overall.

Few of us trust everything we read and given the rate information is added to the internet we do not always want others to use the information we have obtained at our own expense.

Basically the reasons for not including sources in online trees as I see it are :

1. Laziness
2. Lack of trust of others
3. Cost associated with obtaining the information

Genealogy is not a cheap hobby and those who would call it their hobby are well aware of this.
Don't criticise others who seem to be unwilling to share but do as you would like to be done by.
If you choose not to put your sources on your tree mention this in the opening page.
If you are willing to share with others invite them to contact you.
Some of my best leads have come from others but by confirming things for myself I have found information beyond what others have given me which has made this hobby so much more enjoyable.

Those who just include other peoples research do not know the joy of discovering something new for themselves.