Every time I see someone posting on social media or saying out loud something akin to “I avoid those online family trees.” That may be followed by a comment that they are useless and baseless. Oh, do I disagree. Do I trust all family history details that someone told me, wrote about today or 120 years ago, posted on social media, or compiled into an online tree? No, but the CLUES are there. Don’t accept without verifying what you learn. In life and in genealogy.

I wonder if they also avoid all the family history books on library shelves everywhere and those now digitized? More clues to work with even without source citations.

1. A novice genealogist gets excited and copies a tree, then another, and another. They likely don’t know yet that it requires verification. Someone may tell them or they learn more through genealogy webinars, classes, seminars, conferences, and institutes.
   
   
2. The webinars and other education will provide tips such as look at the mother’s age when her child was born or does that tree have two children born in Indiana, then two in Switzerland, then one in Canada, and the next back in Switzerland. What clues can still be gleaned?
   
   
3. Online trees can spread when copied by multiple genealogists on one website or to other genealogy websites. This is mainly due to the ease of duplicating them. Before doing this, analyze what is on the tree you looked at. Are there errors that pop out, Are there details you can change with actual documents?
   
   
4. That tree from another genealogist, whether a novice or been at it for 25 years, can be a road to hours of additional and beneficial research. A fourth daughter named Annabelle who was born in Kansas to a family that was always in Pennsylvania? Hmmm, you didn’t know that your great great grandparents left Altoona and moved for three years to Salina, Kansas! They were there after the 1880 census and left before the 1885 state census in Kansas. They returned to Altoona to the land they hadn’t sold. Annabelle died at 2 years old in Salina and no one ever told you about her. That other genealogist who posted the family tree knew some family details that your part of the family didn’t pass down.
   
   
5. My own online trees are rather sparse. Names, dates, and places. Some details have  attached documentation. More is kept on my computer and some paper files. I welcome inquiries.
   
   
6. Other researchers may have sparse trees with little documentation, too. Whether because it’s on their own computer or from lack of research, it’s ok to ask them for some details if the tree does have some sound connection to your part of the family. They might have a family bible! 
                 
7. Yes, there are online trees and even older written family history books that have evidence of little actual research and have copied information from what others have done. If you see one tiny clue that leads to an additional great grandaunt or a connection to the old country,  it’s worthwhile.
   
   
8. Useless? No way. Many things can be learned, shared, investigated, and you add two new third cousins!

© 2026, Paula Stuart-Warren. All rights reserved.

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