I can say that even "sourced" trees can be incorrect.  Case in point,
while looking for someone that lived in Georgia by name Willie Barefield
1865 and wife Annie 1873, I find that there are there are two families
that could fit this description including date ranges.  But if you go by
the actual documents shown you can deduct that the linked reference is
incorrect due to death dates don't fit.  Such as the Willie they show
died 1924 yet they had a child born in 1926.  And we know that Willie
married twice and to two different Annies - second one born 1898 (to
make matters worse).  These trees have her linked incorrect as well
shown died 1942 in NC while that person was born under a different name
than what we seek and shown on the children's death certificates.

Problem is that Georgia didn't start keeping state records until 1920
and the Willie I am seeking may have died between 1920-1930 and his
first wife between 1910-1917.

My focus will be on Burke and Jenkins County, GA but at the county
level.  Problem is finding the people to contact to help do this
research for me.

Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pat Duncan
Sent: Monday, March 19, 2012 1:28 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Genealgy Future

I agree with online trees being a lower priority.  The majority are
posted without any documentation and many of them are incorrect.  Online
trees may point you in a direction to search but should be suspect until
you can find the documentation to suppose that tree.

Digital and microfilm images of the original documents are only as
useful as the abilities of the abstractor and transcriber to correctly
do their work. 
Sites which provided these images, usually for a fee due to the cost to
make those images available, always face the problem of incorrect
indexing.  No site can be 100% accurate in that area, whether a
commercial or private free site.  No person who abstracts records for
publication will ever be able to guarantee that they accurately read
every document.  But without the indexes and abstracts, finding that
useful original documents can be difficult.

There will never be a time when all family trees and all original
documents are available for everyone to see, whether on commercial or
private sites. 
A successful researcher will never be able to complete a family tree by
using only free Internet sites and definitely not by relying heavily on
family trees posted by other researchers.  But many researchers really
aren't interested in proving the information, they just want to be able
to say they have something that shows they are related to someone famous
or that they can trace their lines back to Adam and Eve.  To most
people, genealogy is just a fun hobby.  The serious genealogist is the
person who finds the documentation just as important as the tree itself.

Pat Duncan
[log in to unmask] 
 
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