Trees that go Out on a Limb

Over my years as a Family History researcher, I have been constantly amazed by some of the errors and misinformation I've found in online family trees.  So many people make assumptions, ignore the basics of biology and put their (clearly incorrect) family trees online for others to copy - and the copiers accept their incorrect data without questioning errors which should be clear at a glance.

So without mentioning names or pointing fingers, here are some of the more eye-popping errors I have come across that really should leap out at researchers.

• Children cannot be born before their parents.
• Children also cannot be born to a mother who is 8 years old.  Or 94 years old. 
• Children are highly unlikely to be born to a father who is 89 years old (while this MAY be biologically possible, it is unlikely and deserves a bit of fact checking).
• A child cannot be christened 7 months before they are born.
• Full siblings cannot be born 4 months apart.  While medical technology may be making this possible today, it really wasn't possible in the 1840s.
• A woman cannot marry 3 years after she has died.
• A man cannot enlist in the army 5 years after he has died.
• No one can die in the decade before they are born.
• A man cannot be buried 17 days before he dies.
• In 1883 a child could not be born in England and christened in Australia 5 days later. 
• Yes, people do move around.  But they will not usually have three children born on three different continents in the space of three years.

I can hear people out there laughing out there at some of these errors, but remember I've seen each of them included in someone's online family tree.  And believe me, getting these errors corrected can be next to impossible.

So the next time you are looking at an online tree that intersects with your family, remember to treat it with a degree of caution.  Not everyone is a meticulous researcher, and sometimes a simple typing error will lead to confusion.  Treat online family trees as hints at best, and always look for corroborating evidence, the sources a person has cited, anything to confirm names, dates, places and details.  Don't follow others out onto a shaky limb.