Don’t trust online trees

I read the letter ‘Word of warning’ in the March issue, and have to agree with the writer about online family trees. Among the gems I have come across is a male apparently married at the age of 12 in 1896, then shown as single in the 1911 census; the children of one family included in another family because the fathers had the same name, even though they lived some miles apart and there was a 17-year difference in their birth dates; and children recorded as older than their grandparents. Best of all was someone who recorded in their tree my great great grandfather living in Northern Ireland on the 1911 census and never noticed that the entry immediately above it recorded his death in 1910.

These family trees can be helpful, they can suggest new possibilities – but take nothing on trust. If a mistake is discovered at a later date it could be very difficult to decide where it happened. Everything needs to be checked before it goes anywhere near your own tree. Daphne Marshall by email

Editor replies: Thank you to everyone who wrote in to agree with Ted Robbens’ ‘ Word of warning’.