Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Baby Steps: My Ancestry.com Family Tree

LeMaster Family Tree on Ancestry.com
I've taken some baby steps and created a family tree on Ancestry.com.  I've been a member of Ancestry for quite some time, but didn't have my own family tree posted there. At one time I had uploaded my entire GEDCOM database, but I soon deleted it as it was unwieldy.  Now I'm working on creating my tree one branch at a time, working to have the best information, sources and photos possible.  My id on Ancestry is tjlgenes.

The process of creating a tree at Ancestry is very easy and straight-forward.  Even though privacy of living individuals is assured, I decided to input myself and my parents as simply Living, along with the surname and no dates.  

I've resisted the urges to click on the little green leaves that give "hints" because right now I know these individuals pretty well and doubt there will be anything new in the hints.  As I add information further back, or add my wife's line, I will probably look at them more closely.  Already, I've received emails from Ancestry suggesting census records, etc. to link with my great-grandparents.  I haven't yet done that, but will once I enter all of the facts and provide the source material.

I've been trying to locate photos of each of my direct line to add to the family tree as well.  Doing this has been an eye-opener, as I've finding out that I didn't have as many photos of some branches of the tree as I thought.

Right now, the tree only has my direct line back to my great-great grandparents.  Surnames include: LeMaster(s), Chew, Wehrly, Smith, Haley, Sherrick, Metzner, Moulton, Wright, King, Pierce, Penisten, Lambertson, Beals and Davis.

In addition to this mini-tree, I have my entire database backed-up as on WorldConnect at database tjlgenes.

4 comments:

Elizabeth said...

Congrats on the baby steps! Actually that is the way to go! Some of the data out there is questionable.

I uploaded two versions - One I keep private and another public. I do click on the leaves on the public one, and am VERY careful about what I accept. Much of it is census records, and a few other records you probably already have. But honestly some of those leaves have connected me with other people that do very thorough research, and have broken down a few walls.

My reason for going public, and allowing some leaves is other researchers might find the date useful. I make sure all my citations are up to-date with hopes they can see the data and weigh the validity for themselves, and perhaps see what citations should look like....

Have Fun!

Greta Koehl said...

I also broke down and started Ancestry trees this past year. And I also just put "Living" as the name for the people who form the base of each tree. I do look at the hints; generally I already have these sources and more, but have been surprised a handful of times - most often for less common records such as ship passenger records (not immigration; it was for a great aunt who appeared to have separated from a great uncle). And already some good contacts have been established.

Charley "Apple" Grabowski said...

I love my Ancestry trees. Don't be afraid of the shaky leaves, you can assess the record and decide if it is correct for your tree or not.

Also check out the link area on person pages, far down on the right. I use it to link to my blog posts and Find-a-Grave memorials. I rarely run across other trees that make use of this feature.

Travis LeMaster said...

Thanks for the tips, everyone!