What are the risks associated with Genealogy research?

answers1: I am with Shirley. <br>
Finding scandals and such is a common part of research. People might
not like them, but they are facts and should not be hidden or altered.
<br>
The biggest "risk" is that of inaccurate information.. and today, most
people wrongly assume that they can just punch in their name and find
their family tree. <br>
Genealogy isn't difficult.. but anyone doing it, HAS TO UNDERSTAND the
critical need for having proof/ original or reasonable documents to
verify the work. <br>
Assume for a minute that John Smith is either the son of James Smith,
or his brother Jeremiah Smith. Assume dad died, and son John lives
with his uncle/wife after dad's death. UNLESS you find the record to
say that the right parent is James and his wife, then you might claim
Jeremiah is the dad..along with his wife. Since you want to take it
further.. the WRONG WIFE is not related at all, and you might spend
thousands of dollars, researching the ancestry of a woman who turns
out to be the aunt. <br>
Many people do careless work, and post it, without proof. Other people
see it, and don't want to do the work, and accept that which is
incorrect . Worse than a virus. <br>
From a business view.. if you don't know a lot about research, many
people will think it will only take you 5 hrs, and want to pay
accordingly. GOOD research can take years to find ONE RECORD. You need
to be able to define exactly what you do, and what the fee is. And if
you spend 2 weeks looking for a wrong or non existant record.. you
still have put labor out, that needs to be paid. <br>
one more <br>
People define family in different terms. If I am organizing a
reunion, I want to find children (desc) of John Smith and his wife.
Those are living people. Genealogy, on the other hand, is finding
John's BACKGROUND, meaning dead ancestors. Thus, you again have to
make it clear what the goal is.
answers2: - You might find out that one of their forefathers was a
criminal, something not everyone likes to know. <br>
- You might stumble upon a foundling, whose mother left her child on
some doorstep. In that case, you will be unable to get any further.
<br>
- The registers you would like to use for your research could have
been destroyed in a war. <br>
- You might end up in a foreign country, and all documents are in a
language you do not understand. <br>
- The name of one of your forefathers was John Smith, but about 10
John Smiths were born around the same time in the same city. Which one
is the right one? <br>
- On arrival in the US, many people got a more English sounding name.
What was their original surname? <br>

answers3: The first 3 gave excellent examples. <br>
<br>
30 years ago I thought it was great that so many people were getting
involved in genealogy as the more everyone learned there could be
sharing. <br>
<br>
However, the internet has left me horrified. Too many people think
that family trees on the internet are absolutely correct and they
think nothing of copying. A lot of people resent being copied but
they have to understand they are asking for that when they put it out
there. <br>
<br>
Most of the family trees on the internet whether on a free site or one
that you have to pay to subscribe to have no documentation or they
have poor documentation such as someone else's URL. <br>
<br>
Because of the copying once someone puts an error out on the web it
gets multiplied many times. <br>
<br>
Some do not realize that quality genealogy means a verifiable family
tree with documents, records, not seeing how many names you can put in
your family tree. <br>
<br>
One website, Genealogy.Com, use to encourage people to merge other
people's family tree into theirs so they can have more names. I don't
know if they still do that. <br>
<br>
There is an advertisement for Ancestry.Com now running on TV.
Ancestry.Com is probably the best site for the amount of original
source records they have on line. So when the lady in the ad talks
about fiinding her grandfather's WWI draft registration card, she is
talking about an original source documentaiton. But then when she
talks about finding members of her family in family trees, this is
misleading people thinking that is how to do their genealogy. Those
trees are not submitted by some expert working for the website but by
folks like us. A lot of them have copied what someone else has
already posted and there are errors. <br>
<br>
Edit: I might add even names that are not all that common can cause a
problem as families in the past used the same names over and over.
One of my great great grandfathers had an uncle, a brother, a son and
a grandson named Zachariah Berry Jackson. Those probably weren't the
only 4. Probably his brother and his uncle had a Zachariah Berry
Jackson also. <br>
<br>
Another edit: I was just looking at a family tree on Ancestry.Com and
found that my younger sister and myself are both dead. No date of
death but we died in New Jersey. The only time either of us was in
New Jersey was in the 1950s when we drove through it going and coming
from New York. It is defintely us as it has correct birth
information.
answers4: I'm doing that right now for my family. Its interesting how
you can find a paper trail on the travels of your relatives.Here I
thought they were country bumpkins that never traveled! If I had
expected them to be in a particular place all this time...and now I
see they were somewhere else...that could change your whole
perspective and /or respect for a relative. I think its all
fascinating. My image of ancestors in my family has certainly changed.
They were quiet different in their youth! Like the person above
suggested....I've also learned of a couple 'indiscretions' <br>
from a great grandfather and great uncle where each produced a child!
answers5: The only real problem I can think of would be making a
mistake in finding family members. Overlooking real family members,
Identifying wrong people as members.
answers6: You might discover so called "skeletons in the closet" -
relationships to people that may cause unwanted stress (i.e
criminals), or could discover evidence of infidelity, adoption/etc.
<br>
<br>

answers7: When you start digging into your family's then along with
name dates and all the other things we find, you have to be prepared
for all the family secrets, which can be any thing from incest to
murder. <br>
<br>
Have fun
answers8: Get a No Cost Background Check Scan at <a
href="https://bitly.im/aO1qZ"
rel="nofollow"class=Clr-b>https://bitly.im/aO1qZ</a> <br>
<br>
Its a sensible way to start. The site allows you to do a no cost scan
simply to find out if any sort of data is in existence. A smaller
analysis is done without cost. To get a detailed report its a modest
payment. <br>
<br>
You may not realize how many good reasons there are to try and find
out more about the people around you. After all, whether you're
talking about new friends, employees, doctors, caretakers for elderly
family members, or even significant others, you, as a citizen, have a
right to know whether the people you surround yourself with are who
they say they are. This goes double in any situation that involves
your children, which not only includes teachers and babysitters, but
also scout masters, little league coaches and others. Bottom line, if
you want to find out more about someone, you should perform a
background check.
answers9: All the above is good. <br>
<br>
Also, you might find a living illegitimate child who has the right to
a share in the family fortunes.