(With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy.)
...if you think copying other trees constitutes research.
...if you think you can go back 10 generations in a matter of hours or even days.
...if you are more interested in unsourced connections to royalty than sourced connections to laborers.
...if your "brick wall" was built in a day.
...if you think a man who died in 1842 could have been a soldier in the U.S. Civil War.
...if you cannot resist adding yet another fake coat of arms to your tree.
...if you accept shaky leaf hints without question.
...if you are willing to accept a marriage record that is dated years before the bride's or groom's birth date.
...if you think a woman over 60 or dead can give birth.
...if you have figures from Greek and/or Roman mythology in your tree.
...if you think everyone with the same surname is related.
...if you do not think it is unusual for a man to have 30 kids with 2 wives over 10 years.
...if you do not see a problem with one woman having 50 children.
...if you think flag clip art is more important than scanned records.
...if you think a person can have marriages and children over 3 centuries.
...if you are positive you have a Cherokee Princess in your tree.
...if you have scans of cabinet card photos as profile pictures for people born in the 1700s or earlier.
...if you add a person to your tree without realizing there are already 10 people on your tree with that same name, born in the same year, all with the same parents.
...if you do not know the difference between Paris, Texas and Paris, France.
...if you think a 1930 census record is a good source for someone who died in 1892.
...if you think every person that has the same name is the same person.
...if you think all data found in books or online is true.
...if you do not care that the profile of your great-grandfather on your tree makes him look like a polygamist. (Assuming he wasn't.)
...if you think a bigamist in 1850 had one family in New York and one in California.
...if you think you can have an accurate family tree going back to Adam and Eve.
...if you think this means you need to look for more trees:
PREVIOUS POST: Gobsmacked
NEXT POST: Model of Idiocracy
...if you think copying other trees constitutes research.
...if you think you can go back 10 generations in a matter of hours or even days.
...if you are more interested in unsourced connections to royalty than sourced connections to laborers.
...if your "brick wall" was built in a day.
...if you think a man who died in 1842 could have been a soldier in the U.S. Civil War.
...if you cannot resist adding yet another fake coat of arms to your tree.
...if you accept shaky leaf hints without question.
...if you are willing to accept a marriage record that is dated years before the bride's or groom's birth date.
...if you think a woman over 60 or dead can give birth.
...if you have figures from Greek and/or Roman mythology in your tree.
...if you think everyone with the same surname is related.
...if you do not think it is unusual for a man to have 30 kids with 2 wives over 10 years.
...if you do not see a problem with one woman having 50 children.
...if you think flag clip art is more important than scanned records.
...if you think a person can have marriages and children over 3 centuries.
...if you are positive you have a Cherokee Princess in your tree.
...if you have scans of cabinet card photos as profile pictures for people born in the 1700s or earlier.
...if you add a person to your tree without realizing there are already 10 people on your tree with that same name, born in the same year, all with the same parents.
...if you do not know the difference between Paris, Texas and Paris, France.
...if you think a 1930 census record is a good source for someone who died in 1892.
...if you think every person that has the same name is the same person.
...if you think all data found in books or online is true.
...if you do not care that the profile of your great-grandfather on your tree makes him look like a polygamist. (Assuming he wasn't.)
...if you think a bigamist in 1850 had one family in New York and one in California.
...if you think you can have an accurate family tree going back to Adam and Eve.
...if you think this means you need to look for more trees:
Check out the Twisted Twigs page on Facebook.
PREVIOUS POST: Gobsmacked
NEXT POST: Model of Idiocracy
What??!!! Grandma's 2nd cousin 3x removed swore there was a Cherokee princess in the tree! They were dark haired and had high cheekbones so surely it's true!
ReplyDeleteGlad I know who this is so I don't take it seriously ;-)
DeleteLLG70, is it permissible to use some of the "You might be a Clickophile" post, in a Genealogy Society Newsletter?
ReplyDeleteI would have sent an email but saw no way to do so.
Rod McDonald
Tidewater Genealogical Society
www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vatgs
Hi Rod,
DeleteYes if you include the name and address of my blog :-) Thanks!
-Loretta
(I forgot to edit my profile after I created a separate mailbox for the blog :-P Doing that now!)
'if you think a bigamist in 1850 had one family in New York and one in California'
ReplyDeleteCould you explain this one please? Is it the distance between New York & California that's the problem?
My GGGrandfather did have two families in 1850.
Yes the distance.
DeleteSorry, I was on my phone most of the day and couldn't answer properly. Trains that serviced California weren't built until 1869. The trip from New York would not have a taken days but months. With the promise of gold many people did take it. I guess if someone was a bigamist because they abandoned their family in New York and married again in California it's possible. When I wrote this I was thinking of bigamist as someone having two families simultaneously. Guess I could've been clearer :-P
DeleteThis is from Wikipedia:
In what has been referred to as the "first world-class gold rush", there was no easy way to get to California; forty-niners faced hardship and often death on the way. At first, most Argonauts, as they were also known, traveled by sea. From the East Coast, a sailing voyage around the tip of South America would take five to eight months, and cover some 18,000 nautical miles (33,000 km). An alternative was to sail to the Atlantic side of the Isthmus of Panama, take canoes and mules for a week through the jungle, and then on the Pacific side, wait for a ship sailing for San Francisco. There was also a route across Mexico starting at Veracruz. Many gold-seekers took the overland route across the continental United States, particularly along the California Trail. Each of these routes had its own deadly hazards, from shipwreck to typhoid fever and cholera.
Words of wisdom. I love it! I have had to make my tree on Ancestry.com due to such things. And with all of the new geneaology peeps coming on board... I aint about sharing 20+ years of validation just so you can generate 1000+ peeps in one day for your tree. Do the footwork just like everyone else I say. Spend late nights, gas, travel and such getting your info just like I did. Go visit living relatives and have a meal and talk about your genealogy ... heck the US Postal Service still works as well. Pay the money like I have to get the documents. Don't try to steal mine! Especially when you live in the area and could have done this your ownself. I'm just sayin!
ReplyDeleteSpot on!
DeleteHey wait a minute, I love flag clip art . . .
ReplyDeleteWhat I dislike is flag clip art that shows the *current* flags of countries that didn't exist when the ancestor lived. Like people showing the flag of Belgium for ancestors born in 18th century Flanders (Belgium was established in 1831).
DeleteFiguring out the correct flag for the time period would require research, the clickophiles kryptonite ;-)
Delete