Potential Disaster

Looks like Ancestry is rolling out a new feature. (Thanks to Rene for the image.)

Ancestry wants to let users know about possible connections with other users' trees. I'm sure that will work out well. *head/desk*
It's clear that Ancestry's priority is numbers, not content and definitely not accuracy. Numbers of profiles, numbers of trees. It makes no difference to them if the profiles/trees are total junk.
If they cared about accuracy they could make new users watch a short video like this one:



...before starting a tree. Or maybe a pop-up disclaimer: "Information on trees has not be validated. Respect your ancestors by researching to find out who they really are. If you instead choose to copy other trees be prepared to be mocked when you announce to other genealogists that you have your tree back to Adam & Eve or that you got back to royalty in a matter of hours." Okay, maybe something nicer.
Instead they insist on making it easier for people like these to create trees:

✿ I've gotten back to 17th century on mom's side; finally found Scottish connection on dad's side....then my free 2 wks Ancestry.com ran out. LOL. i have the names; now want some stories.
✿ Any word on how long until the search function for those born before 1000 A.D. is going to be fixed? I've got a LOT of family from way before then, and I can't get anything but some stray German school book information .... I've talked to customer service, who sent a report to the tech folks. Slowing me down !!
✿ Dear Ancestry.com; I don't want to know my real past, I think it is about time your site offered replacement histories after all America is the land of dreams
✿ I just spent 7 hours on Ancestry.com tracing my lineage to my 54th great-grandfather Fiacha Tolgrach MacMuireadhach, High King of Ireland, who was born in approximately 850 BC. Yes. That really happened.
✿ I'm so excited to be on here!!! Started my family history couple of months and wow!!! It has been a blast! I have one line of my husbands family back to adam and eve!
✿ According to my latest research on ancestry.com and other sites,
Adam and Eve are my 104th great-grandparents!

(More idiotic, but unfortunately real, comments from Facebook's Ancestry fan page can be found here.)

This new feature is slowly being rolled out. I'm hoping that those of us who have turned off tree hints won't be subjected to it.

Unhinged Part 3

Here's the third unhinged tree from this Ancestry user.

(Click on image to view larger.)

That's the entire tree. A tree of the evolutionary relationship of all animals would be interesting. This, however, is a jumbled mess.

Unhinged Part 2

The tree owner is the same as last week's post but this is from another tree. At the top of the tree is "Father of Darkness." His children and grandchildren (and I use those terms loosely) are as follows:

Storm God
B: East Coast
D: North America

CHILDREN
American Indian-maternal family system & brothel
B: 102, North America
D: after 1860, North America
Architecture-American Indian v.s. Siberian
B: before 1100 North America
D: North America
Crow Creek Massacre-486 Indians, entire tribe-mutalated, scalped & killed by rival tribe
B: 1325, North Dakota, USA
D: 1325, North Dakota, USA
Iroquois Confederacy-5 Nations: licence to torture, kill, cannibalize
B: BEFORE 1500, East coast North America
D: North America
aggressive Iroquois - Huron & Algonquian victims
B: BEFORE 1600, East coast North America
D: before Revolutionary War
Theory's-Origins of Native American Indians
B: North America
D: North America

God of Darkness
B: North America
D: North & Central America

CHILDREN
Kieft's War-war started by one man
B: 1643, New Netherland, New York
D: 1645, New Netherland, New York
Lachine Massacre
B: 5 AUG 1689, Lachine, Montreal
D: 5 AUG 1689, Lachine, Montreal
King Hendrick , blood-thirsty-scalp-hunter
B: 1691, Land of the Morally-Bankrupt
D: 1755, Fires of Hell
French & Indian War
B: 1754, Ft. Duquesne (Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania
D: 10 FEB 1763, Paris, France
Pontiac's Rebellion War
Birth 1763, British colonization of America
Death 1766, Pontiac's tribe, Ohio Valley
Revolutionary War heros, traitors and barbarians
B: 19 APR 1775, Canada & United States
D: 1783, Canada & United States
Comanche Conspiracy
B: 1850, Southwest US
D: PRESENT, America

Here's a snippet of the tree's "list of all people":

I think the relationship of these events only exists in the tree owner's head.

Unhinged Part 1

There is not enough snark to describe this person's trees. The tree owner is clearly unhinged and there is so much offensive crap I can't even create a coherent rant. This is the first of thee posts. The images speak for themselves.
The user's trees are one of a kind so if you see something you think shouldn't be on Ancestry you should have no trouble finding the tree to report it. 
Thanks to Becky for the link!

Genealogy Videos Galore

Years ago I started creating genealogy related playlists on YouTube. 

I update them about twice a year. 

There are so many free tutorials available. 

Take advantage of them!

To go to the playlists click HERE.

DNA Myth

A common DNA misconception is that you and your sibling will have the same autosomal DNA results. I have no idea where this myth came from but here are some examples showing how not true it is.
On the left is me and on the right is my brother.

 Here we have three more siblings: Marcos, Rebecca, and Mary.

There are more regions but they are all less than 1% noise except on Mary's. Hers also includes 2% Mali and 1% Senegal that didn't fit into the screen cap.
That's just the ethnicity results. Let's take a look at the cousin matches.

They are all listed as "immediate family" for each other and they all match their aunt, Maria B.
As you can see they all share different amounts of DNA with different relatives. Jannivy is the granddaughter of their sister who has passed away. Maria shares so much DNA with her that she shows up as "close family" instead of "1st cousin" where a great-niece would usually show. As the amount of DNA shared gets smaller it's more likely a match will only show up on one sibling. If you're using, or will be using, DNA as a serious research tool you should test as many family members as possible. Your brother, sister, aunt, or uncle may be the key to solving your mystery.

Cherokee Woman

It's been a while but I'm back with another crazy profile.
How many errors, inconsistencies, or just plain idiotic things can you find?

Cherokee Woman

Birth  1710 in ,,North Carolina,USA
Marriage  11 Jun 1734 in Antrim, Antrim, Ireland*
Marriage  29 Jul 1740 in Fairfield, Northumberland, Virginia, United States*
Marriage  18 Oct 1744 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States*
Marriage  1753*
Marriage  1783*
Death  1785 in Cherokee, Georgia, USA

*All marriages are to James Robert Adair.

PARENTS
Thomas Webb Hobson
B. 1665 in St Stephens Parish, Northumberland, Virginia, United States
D. 1714 in St Stephens Parish, Northumberland, Virginia, United States
Sarah Clark
B. 1675 in St Stephens Parish, Northumberland, Virginia, United States
D. 10 Oct 1743 in St Stephens, Northumberland, Virginia, United States

SPOUSE
James Robert Adair
Birth  1709 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland
Marriage  30 Oct 1733 in Wigtown, Wigtownshire, Scotland to Agnes Craig
Marriage  11 JUN 1734 in Antrim, Antrim, Ireland to Ann Mc Carty
Marriage  11 Jun 1734 in Antrim, Antrim, Ireland to Cherokee Woman
Marriage  11 Jun 1734 in Antrim, Antrim,, Ireland to Esther McBride
Marriage  29 Jul 1740 in Northumberland County, Virginia to Clark Hobson
Marriage  29 Jul 1740 in Fairfield, Northumberland, Virginia, United States
Marriage  03 Jun 1744 in Georgia, USA to Ann McCarty
Marriage  18 Oct 1744 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States to Ann Mc Carty
Marriage  18 Oct 1744 in Fairfield, Fairfield, Connecticut, United States to Cherokee Woman
Marriage  18 Oct 1744 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA in Esther McBride
Marriage  1753 to Cherokee Woman
Marriage  1754 to Isabella Lowery Hamilton
Marriage  1783 to Ann Mc Carty
Marriage  1783 to Cherokee Woman
Death  1783 in Robeson County, North Carolina, USA

Of course this profile only has other trees as "sources." So I took a swig, steeled myself, and took a look at the attached profiles on those trees. What I found, after the break.