3 Key Signs a Family Tree is Wrong

When you find your relatives in a stranger's family tree, it means one of two things:

1. You've discovered a new branch of your own family tree, or
   
2. They made a mistake and put your relatives where they don't belong.

When that stranger is also your DNA match, you hope they're right. It's up to you to see if their family tree is reliable or riddled with errors.

Here are the 3 key signs that separate fact from fiction.

Don't pull that family tree into your own. You don't know where it's been!

1. Their family is from the wrong place

Giuseppe Nicola Mascia was born on 9 Oct 1794 in Colle Sannita, Italy. I know this because his baptism record is included in his 1826 marriage papers from Colle Sannita. I have vital records that tell me his and both his wives' names, birth dates, and parents' names. I have birth records for his 8 children, born between 1815 and 1835.

One of my DNA matches has Giuseppe Nicola Mascia, born on 9 Oct 1794, in their family tree. But things quickly go wrong.

• They say Giuseppe was born on that date in Deliceto, a town 80 miles away from Colle Sannita.
• They have the wrong parents and siblings for Giuseppe. I have documents for the correct people.
• They have Giuseppe's first wife and kids but the wrong second wife and kids. Theirs overlap with the dates of the real second wife and kids.

What can we make of all this? Since the people in their tree are from a town 80 miles away, they're a different family. I'll bet they saw a hint for "Giuseppe Nicola Mascia" from my tree and pulled him and his first wife and kids right in. They were wrong to do so. They didn't check the facts.

You must know your locations and time period! In the early 1800s, people from my grandfather's town of Colle Sannita stayed put.

For a better understanding of the importance of place, see Location and Mobility in "4 Keys to Italian Genealogy."

2. Their dates don't add up

In the same person's family tree, they added another couple from my tree even though the dates don't work. My couple, Nicola Giuseppe Mascia and Angelica delVecchio, married in 1818 and had 7 kids in the town of Baselice.

This person brought Nicola and Angelica into their tree along with 4 of their 7 kids. They documented the fact that this couple married on 30 May 1818 in Baselice. Then they added FIVE other children who were born in Deliceto (50 miles away) between 1804 and 1814. In 1804, Nicola was 15 and living in Colle Sannita, and Angelica was 12 and living in Baselice.

The dates do not work. They contradict logic and the documented facts. I found the 1812 birth record for one of the misplaced kids in Deliceto. His parents were Mattia Mascio and Maria Farollo of Deliceto. Someone didn't do their own research.

Does your family tree have dates that can't be right? You can fix them. Find out how in "How to Find Errors in Your Family Tree."

3. Birth locations are vague

I find so many family trees where it's clear they don't know where their people came from. To spot them, look for great grandparents with only a country as their place of birth. They'll also be missing a full birth date.

That's fine—either they haven't done their research yet or they've hit dead-ends. But that country without a town is a red flag when I see they've put people from my towns into their family tree.

If they don't know where their people came from, how can they assume my people are their people? When I spot this type of borrowing from my tree, I check their direct ancestors. If I can't find a strong possibility of a connection to my towns, I disregard the entire tree.

Are you still missing your ancestor's hometown? Here are "4 Key Places to Discover Your Ancestor's Hometown."

Everyone is in a different place on their family tree journey. Since you're reading this blog, I know you wouldn't pull another family tree into yours without proof. But if you're browsing through DNA matches' trees hoping for a breakthrough, keep an eye out for these 3 key signs a family tree is wrong.

7 Free Genealogy Map Projects

Mapping your ancestors' locations can help you better understand their stories. It can help you answer some lingering questions. And it may be the best way to get your relatives interested in your genealogy research.

Here are 7 free genealogy map projects you're sure to enjoy.

These 7 free genealogy research map projects add value and interest to your family tree.

1. A Virtual Drive-by of Your Ancestors' Hometown

Looking at a regular map-view online or on paper does nothing to give you a feel for your ancestors' hometown. But if you sit at your desk and "drive" down the streets, you'll get a more accurate impression of the place. Honestly, I could do this for hours. Read "How to Visit Your Ancestral Hometown at Your Desk."

2. Create a Genealogy Vacation Itinerary on Your Phone

The last time I visited my dad's first cousins in Italy, the GPS led us a bit astray. We couldn't find the house. So I took out my iPhone, opened up my customized map, and saw exactly where to turn. Imagine having your map of family locations with you on your phone for your next trip to their town. Read how to "Create a Digital Map of Your Family History."

3. Mapping Places That Are No Longer There

I'd always heard that my ex-mother-in-law didn't know if her family was German or Polish. In her family's documents, I saw them identified as Prussian, Polish, German, and West Prussian. The difference was the time-period of each document and what was happening in Europe. With a bit a research, I created an overlay map that places the family firmly in Poland. Find out how in "Finding Ancestral Homelands That Are No Longer There."

4. Find New Clues by Mapping Every Location

My great grandfather Giovanni has a lot of mystery about him. Most intriguing to me is his business relationship with a local brewery in the Bronx. This part of his life is entirely lost in family lore. But, by mapping his every address and digging into the history of the brewery, I came up with a theory. See how this can help your research by reading "Mapping Your Ancestors Can Answer Questions."

5. Get More Precise With Addresses

When I saw how many addresses weren't mapped correctly in Family Tree Maker, I found a way to make them more precise. Find out how to "Pinpoint Important Places in Your Family Tree."

6. Find Clusters by Mapping Every Location All at Once

I used a combination of free software tools for this project. It showed me graphically how clustered together all my direct ancestors were. It's astonishing—especially when my closest relatives are now spread all over the United States. See how to create a detailed map of everyone in your family tree in "Where Will Your Roots Map Take You?"

7. Bring Your Ancestry Home With a Map for the Relatives

You spend so much time enjoying your family research. But do your close relatives know what you've discovered? I found out my 1st cousin didn't know that his grandmother came from the same town as my grandfather. So I knew I had to give him a visual. This project uses Google Maps to plot all the ancestors of your closest cousins. It's a real eye-opener for your relatives. Find out how to make it interactive in "Make an Easy Ancestral Map for the Cousins."

21 Genealogy Tools I Can't Live Without

There have been only two times when I used paper and pen to record genealogy information:

1. While visiting relatives and asking them questions.
2. When I first began this hobby with nothing but the Ellis Island website.

I'm digital by nature. As a child of IBM, I owned my first PC in 1985, and earned a living on computers since 1983. I can barely hold a pen anymore. And I do not have folders full of genealogy printouts or binders of any kind.

I work on my family tree every day, and I do every speck of the work on my computer. In fact, in my list of tools below you'll find only one paper book. That's because it's uniquely indispensable to my family tree.

Here are my 21 crucial genealogy tools:

Set yourself up for family tree success by having your essential genealogy tools close at hand.

1. Family Tree Maker. My daily genealogy sessions begin with Family Tree Maker. It's the only family tree software I've ever used. I've tried a few others but they pale by comparison. If you build and keep your family tree online only, you're missing out on so many robust features. My 2 favorite Family Tree Maker features are the relationship calculator and the locations list. Plus, I can sync my work with my tree on Ancestry for the benefit of distant cousins. See "Comparing Family Tree Programs Is an Eye Opener."

While I'm working in Family Tree Maker, these are the spreadsheets, websites, and book I refer to most often.

Document Searches

2. Ancestry.com. If you're serious about this hobby, 87 cents a day for Ancestry.com isn't extravagant. Ancestry is my go-to for document searches. I love how the advanced search can pull in facts about the person I need from my Ancestry tree. It saves a lot of typing. I also use AncestryDNA and manage 4 kits.

My family tree has mostly Italians. Their documents are not on Ancestry, but on Antenati (see #6 below). Ancestry is perfect for all my American relatives.

Maps

3. Bing Maps. I consult online maps every time I add an address to my family tree. I find that Bing Maps is better at naming every little street in my ancestral Italian hometowns. And I love how it always shows you the county/province the location is in.

4. Google Maps. I often switch from Bing Maps to Google Maps to get a closer view of a building. Google's Street View is a treasure. I also love Google Earth for creating wonderful family tree projects. Find your best options in "Which Global Map is Best for Genealogists?."

New York-Specific

5. New York City Municipal Archives. My ancestors didn't start coming to America until the 1890s, and they all came to New York. The majority lived in the Bronx in New York City. I was beside myself with joy when the New York City Municipal Archives put its vital records online.

I've downloaded 172 high-quality birth, death, and marriage certificates for my family tree. Thanks, New York! Find out how to locate your ancestors' NYC vital records.

Italy-Specific

6. Antenati. When Italy decided to put digitized copies of their vital records online, my life changed. Before that, I didn't know the names of any of my 2nd great grandparents. Now my family tree has 75,000 people going back to the 1600s. That's a very big deal for an Italian! Try it yourself. Read "How to Use the Online Italian Genealogy Archives."

7. Familysearch.org. Sometimes Italian vital records not on Antenati are available on Familysearch. I also rely on the list of Latin genealogy words found in the Familysearch Wiki.

8. Italian place names. When I can't read a town name on a document, I go to Comuni-Italiani.it to find it and make sure I'm spelling it correctly.

9. Italian surname map. The Cognomix website helps you see if you're spelling an Italian last name correctly. Italy has more last names than any European country. To get the spelling right, and make sure the name actually comes from the town you think it comes from, this site is key.

10. Italian parishes. When I'm lucky enough to find a birth or baptism record that names the church, I like to place it on the map. But many times the handwriting is tough to decipher. The Parishes in Italy website helps you figure out that spelling and get a street address.

11. Italian military records. Luckily for me the province of Benevento has placed many documents online. If a soldier from Benevento died in World War I or II, you can download his military record. I've downloaded 148 of them. Find out how to download "Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII."

They crammed these military records with details. I had to go to the Benevento archives in person to see my grandfather's record because he lived. The amount of detail shocked me. And I finally learned which POW camp they held him in, and that he was there for a solid year!

12. "Colle Sannita nel 1742" (a book by Fabio Paolucci). This 1742 census of Grandpa's town helped me find more generations of my family tree. I have ancestors named in this book who were born in the 1600s. It's been remarkable to be able to fit so many of these 1742 households into my tree. This book never leaves my desk.

Spreadsheets

I resented all the spreadsheets I had to maintain for my job, but they're oh so valuable for genealogy. I created or adapted these 3 spreadsheets that you can download for yourself.

13. Ahnentafel spreadsheet. Each of your direct ancestors has an ID number. You are number 1. Use this spreadsheet to keep track of who you've identified and see who you're missing. Download your own spreadsheet by reading "3 Things to Do with Ahnentafel Numbers."

14. Relationship chart. I especially like this spreadsheet when I'm trying to figure out a DNA match. If they're the grandchild of my 4th cousin 3 times removed, I can use this chart to put a name to our relationship. Download yours.

15. Document tracker. When I noticed a cousin's 1924 marriage certificate on Ancestry, I went to my document tracker to see if I needed it. I did! The document tracker is a quick way to see which documents you have and which you need for anyone in your family. Download one for yourself.

Other Software

16. Photoshop. I spent my career creating websites and printed material. I've been using Photoshop since before it was Photoshop. (Anyone remember Aldus PhotoStyler?) Now I use Photoshop for genealogy documents and blog images. I straighten, crop, enhance the contrast, and resize each document image before it goes in my tree. You can use any photo editor, but you should fix those images before you place them in your tree. See 6 Steps to Make Your Family Tree 10 Times Better.

17. OneDrive. There are a bunch of cloud services available for backing up your important files. Because I subscribe to Microsoft Office 365, I get tons of OneDrive cloud storage. Each evening when I'm finished with Family Tree Maker, I make a backup and copy the latest files to OneDrive. On Sunday mornings I also copy my latest files to two external hard drives. Choose your best cloud storage option. Important: Do not open your family tree file from the cloud. You must open the file on your hard drive or all hell will break loose. It happened to me.

18. Family Tree Analyzer. I discovered some new benefits to this software in its map feature, which I'll write about in the future. For now, see "Report Finds Marriage Mishaps in Your Family Tree."

Other Websites

19. Shared cM Project for DNA. Whenever I'm trying to figure out a new DNA match, this graphic on the DNA Painter website is a big help. Find out your expected relationship based on your number of shared centimorgans (cMs).

20. Cause of Death decoder. Have you ever tried to read the doctor's cause of death on a death certificate? It's enough to make your eyes hurt. But if that death certificate has a code number in the cause of death area, you're in luck. This website will help you see in plain, neatly typed letters why your great uncle Harry died.

21. SteveMorse.org. The One-Step Webpages by Stephen P. Morse have tons of uses, but I have one favorite. It tends to come in handiest every 10 years when I need to track down census sheets manually. If the census isn't yet indexed or your family's name is misread, Steve Morse's census tools can help you find them. Find out more in "Try This Tool to Find a Missing Census."

I may have a lot of windows and tabs open at any given time, but I wouldn't want to give up any of these genealogy tools.

5 Tips to Use When Genealogy Documents Disagree

I don't worry too much when two documents' facts disagree with one another. That's because I can apply these 5 tips to overcome the discrepancies. And so can you!

When genealogy documents disagree, these 5 tips help you figure out what's wrong and what belongs in your family tree.

1. Gather as Many Documents as Possible

Imagine you're piecing together a family from their town's vital records. You notice the husband seems an awful lot older than his wife when one of their kids was born. How can you find out if his stated age is reliable? The answer is more documents.

Search for all the children and check his stated age on their birth records. If only one record has the unlikely age, then that record is in error.

For an in-depth example, read "When Documents Disagree, Get More Documents."

2. Trust Earlier Documents More

I spend most of my research time in the 1800s. People back then didn't have to fill out forms all the time like we do today. Many of them couldn't even write their own name. So it's completely understandable that they may not have known their birth date.

If a woman gets 10 years younger when her fifth child is born, it's because no one knows her age. The town clerk writing the birth record asked the husband how old his wife is. Do you think he really knows?

He's far more likely to know his wife's age when their first child is born. By the time the last child is born, he hasn't got a clue. That's why it's safer to believe the earliest document to mention her age.

3. Expect Some Human Error

Italian marriages in the mid-1800s generated a lot of documents. These include rewritten copies of the bride and groom's birth records. But sometimes they're the wrong record. It's most likely a human error on the part of the town clerk.

In nine errors out of 10, the clerk included the birth record of an older sibling with the same name who died as a baby. Last week I found an 1840 marriage that included a birth record for the wrong man entirely. He had the right name, but he came from a different family!

You can imagine how the clerk's error could mess up a lot of people's family trees. That's why you need to document the bride and groom's entire families. You'll know the baby born on such-and-such a date died a year later. Then you can assume it's the next child with the same name who's getting married.

To learn how to use Italian marriage documents, read "The Italian Genealogy Goldmine: 'Wedding Packets'."

4. Understand Name Usage and Evolution

It's not uncommon for a person to use their middle name rather than their first name. It's also not uncommon for the spelling of a last name to change over time.

I've seen countless babies born with multiple names who go by only one of those names. Maria Teresa uses the name Teresa. Nicola Antonio goes by Antonio. You must stay open to these possibilities. Don't rule out a document because you know he was born Nicola Antonio and this record says Antonio. Look at the big picture. What other facts can help you confirm that Antonio is really Nicola Antonio?

The spelling of a last name can evolve or change completely. My grandmother and her siblings had the last name Sarracino. Somehow the whole family lost an R and became Saracino by 1940. Some names lose their prefix over time. For instance, the name diRuccia became Ruccia. And it's common for people to make their name less ethnic in their adopted country. (It didn't happen at Ellis Island!)

When you see a last name change, look at the first names and ages. Are they the same as the family with a somewhat different last name? That's a handy tip when you find a bad transcription or a last name written incorrectly on a document.

5. Know Which Documents Are More Reliable

Because I spend countless hours viewing vital records, I've noticed trends. Many of my ancestral hometowns provide access to death records from 1931–1942. I've found that the deceased's age on these records is highly reliable. I'll bet that that during this time a clerk verified the person's age instead of taking somebody's word for it.

I've also found that a bride and groom's age on their marriage document is quite reliable. That comes in handy if you don't have access to their birth records. The reasons for this improved accuracy may be:

• They're still young enough not to have forgotten how old they are.
• Even if we don't see the documents, the town checked their birth records before performing the marriage.

In more recent times, I've seen a variety of names applied to myself. After 2 marriages, I've had 3 last names, and they're all misspelled constantly. I get mail with 2 different middle initials, and I have no middle name! Then there's my first name with its made-up spelling. My entire name is rarely spelled the right way.

If a genealogist is trying to research me in the distant future, good luck to them! It's going to take a whole lot of documents to make sense of my name alone.

Put these 5 tips to use and keep them in mind when you're researching your family tree.

3 Projects Make Your Genealogy Document Images Perfect

My 74,000-person family tree has one major difference from most family trees. It connects everyone who lived in three of my ancestral hometowns during a long span of time. These small towns had so much inter-marriage that everyone in town had a connection.

I'm able to build this family tree, and continue to do so, because the towns' vital record images are online. (Grazie mille, Portale Antenati!) These vital record images are the puzzle pieces that connect everyone in town.

Because it's such a huge project, I needed to enforce certain standards. These standards add value to every document image in my family tree. Deciding on, and sticking to your own set of standards will save you any doubt or confusion. And it all turns your genealogy research into a true legacy.

Here are 3 projects to help you perfect the way you handle your genealogy document images.

Find the best rules and tips for naming and annotating the document images in your family tree.

Project One: 3 Rules for Naming Digital Genealogy Documents

Most of us seem to run into the same problem when we first get into genealogy. How do I organize all these files? I hadn't gotten too far in my document gathering before I realized I needed a system of organization.

Years later, these 3 rules for naming genealogy document images still work like a charm. Click the link above to see which methods you'd like to adopt for your own family tree research.

Project Two: Add Proof and a Breadcrumb to Family Tree Documents

Sometimes you need to return to the online version of a document you downloaded. You may realize there's a potential relative on the next page who you need to see. You may discover you forgot to download the second page of a ship manifest.

Each time I download a document image for my family tree, I follow these rules to show exactly where it came from. I also went back and filled in the missing information for every document already in my family tree. Now it's a habit, and it makes my family tree much better.

Project Three: 6 Steps to Make Your Family Tree 10 Times Better

My goal for this blog is to encourage more professional family tree building. I do this by applying business skills to genealogy. This article helps you follow a step-by-step process for handling your document images.

Imagine if every family tree you found online used a detailed, thorough process like this!

As I write this, I'm finishing up another document image project. It uncovers valuable hidden clues in a vital record collection. I was lucky enough to be able to mass-download several towns' worth of vital records some time ago. Currently I'm renaming all the marriage records for the Italian town of Circello.

Italian marriage documents can include:

• birth records for the bride and groom
• death records (if appropriate) for their mothers
• death records (if appropriate) for their fathers and grandfathers

These extra records are not in an index. You must view the files. And lots of them are not covered in the vital records that began around 1809.

As I rename the images, I discover the names and parents' names of men who died in the mid-1700s. That's amazing hidden information!

If you're serious about genealogy, I hope you'll do the most perfect job you can with your family tree. Here's to a productive year of genealogy in 2024!

5 Free, Easy-to-Use Family Tree Charts

With the holiday season upon us, I know you don't have a lot of time to devote to genealogy. But I wanted to put these charts in your hands. Here are 5 free family tree charts/templates you can come back to when you're ready to dive in.

1. A Color-Coded Ahnentafel Chart

Look in this article for the revised Ahnentafel spreadsheet: "How to Visualize Your Ancestor-Finding Progress." The colors and pre-filled numbers will help you instantly see which branches of your family tree need more research.

2. A Multi-Generation Relationship Calculator

Understanding your relationship to a distant cousin (maybe a DNA match) can make your head spin. Here's a spreadsheet that makes it clear what to call your relationship based on your common ancestor. Look for the link that says, "You can download my chart for yourself" in this article: "This Chart Finds Hidden Relationships in Your Family Tree."

These 5 free family tree charts belong in your genealogy toolbox!

3. A Five-Generation Fill-in-the-Blanks PDF Chart

I never write anything by hand that I can type instead. That's why I created this Acrobat PDF file that lets you type in the names to create a five-generation family tree chart. Click the link that says, "Download the Direct Ancestor Chart PDF" in this article: "Free 5-Generation Fill-in-the-Blanks Form."

4. An Easy Family Tree Template from Microsoft Excel

I use Excel in my family tree research every day and in lots of ways. Did you know Microsoft Excel includes a free family tree template? Take a look at how you can make quick work of a custom family tree in this article: "Free and Easy-to-Use 4-Generation Family Tree Chart."

5. Five-Generation Template Keeps New Research on Track

I made this Excel template to use when I'm researching families that don't belong in my own family tree. At first I was keeping running lists of what I'd found and where I searched. Then I made this template and saved myself a ton of trouble. Find the link at the bottom of this article: "This New Template Charts 5 Generations."

I'll give you another great collection next week to wrap up the 7th year (holy cow!) of this blog. Happy holidays!