I do geneology, and maybe I can shed a little light on the subject.

[Michael Weatherhead]

I know that when we get started in geneology, we tend to get hung up on two things: #1: The various spellings of surnames, and #2: varying dates (birth, death, etc). We need to understand, that various entities (government census, death records indexes, newspaper memorials, etc) can get things wrong. Census takers, for instance, can only write down what they thought they heard someone say. I have a female french ancestor, and the three spellings of her surname, were St. Pierre, Sampier, and Sampeer. It really confused me, because all the other info (husband, children, etc) was the same. Then I figured it out. Ask any frenchie to pronounce St. Pierre. They don't say it the way you or I would, they would pronounce it "San Pierre."--right?! So, a non-french speaking census worker (this was a Canadian census) enters her home, asks for her surname, hears her pronounce St. Pierre, and writes what he or she hears. This happened several times with my ancestors.

The other thing that is often different, is people's birthdates. My neighbor has been a census worker, and she's an avid geneologist. I asked her how the names and dates can be so different. She explained about the writing the name like you hear it (not allowed to ask for spelling), but also, when they ask how old someone is, they write that down. Then, they use that age, to guesstimate the year of birth. So if Johnny is 7, did he just turn 7, is he almost 7, did he turn 7, 9 months ago, is he almost 8? We don't know. So, when the worker writes Johnny's birthyear, (they didn't always do this), they'll often put "About 1877," or "approx 1877," for example. Not only census workers get these things wrong, but so do other entities, even geneology websites. Also, these are my three favorite sites to use: FamilySearch.org. Owned/operated by the LDS Church, but free to everybody. Has access to MEGA records, and with the click of the mouse, enters them in your family tree. The others are Ancestry.com (a paid site), and FindaGrave.com. This one is cool, allows you to search gravesites, often includes the memorial, of the person. Also links you to spouses, and children. This site is free.

[Hexdef101]

I have used all of them..... Though I am uncertain of the validity of FamilySearch. They list my G Grandmother as part of the Glammis Line, And The Lyon Memorial Book Does not, so I am uncertain as to which is accurate.

I would add Published Online Family Tree's like Lynell Arnott's, his is pretty good and it has some of my family on there, so there's that.

[Michael Weatherhead]

I have used all of them..... Though I am uncertain of the validity of FamilySearch. They list my G Grandmother as part of the Glammis Line, And The Lyon Memorial Book Does not, so I am uncertain as to which is accurate.

I would add Published Online Family Tree's like Lynell Arnott's, his is pretty good and it has some of my family on there, so there's that.

You're right, about problems with Familysearch.org entries. I have had to straighten up many mistakes, which I've found. The problem is usually what are called "duplicates." The same person listed several times, each with different ID numbers. Sometimes, Familysearch enters wrong info, which contradicts provable documentation (like the French ancestor, which I mentioned earlier). I've also looked at a particular piece of info, then clicked onto the photo of the original document, only to find that whoever transposed that said info, read it wrong. Still, it is a helpful site. They do have much to offer.

[Rick Y]

I was astonished, some years ago, while using the resources at an LDS location, to discover that a lady whom I have known all my life was, instead of my aunt, actually my mother. When I pointed out the error I was instructed to bring some credible documentation before it could be changed. Bringing my actual mother down to confirm our relationship was not sufficient. Oh well, I know who has been the recipient of Mother's Day gifts from me and that'll work for me.

On another note, does anyone know of any free online searchable/viewable state databases like the one for Missouri where one can view death certificates? Birth or marriage?

[Downunder Kilt]

Sorry Michael but I have two issues with your last post.
!. Using the term Frenchie, rather like me using the term septic for Americans and
2. the french often pronounce a word ending in T with the T silent or very soft. ( as inthe phrase s'il vous plait ) They would not sound it as Americans or Australians do, after all, it's the french language they are speaking .
Cheers.

[O'Callaghan]

My Irish side ended up as Callahan, but was definitely Callaghan before the Royal Navy lost the g, which the Irish do not regard as a different name than O'Callaghan, although they would write the latter in their records as O Callaghan, with a space, not an apostrophe. It doesn't end there of course, as the Irish gaelic is of course Ceallachain and of course O'Ceallachain is not regarded as a separate name. All these are just variants of the same name.

Traditionally all the above are descendants of Ceallachain, 10th century king of Munster, of the Eoganacht or Eugenian tribe, but so are McCarthys, Sullivans and some Kennedys (but not THOSE Kennedys, who are of the rival Dalcassian tribe or Dal gCas, and the Scottish Kennedys are another lot), because that king lived before surnames, and at least these three surnames were created later from various male lines, being originally the first names of his grandsons. Of course, all those names have variants of their own, in English and in Irish.

It is easy enough to trace this part of my family back to Ireland, and to Cork, where the clan lands were, although the original Ceallachain was from Cashel (Caisil) in Kerry, and I have no links going back anything like that far. The town in Cork that my family can be traced back to was only founded in 1725. We only have definite records back to 1852 in Ireland, and going forward from there to the present day in England, although we have 'suspects' in Cork in the 1700s via the Mormon records, and there are people in Pennysylvania that claim descent from them and who we have contacted.

That is actually my mother's fathers line, and the English side of my mother's family is pretty well known to us as well, thanks to her research. My father's family is more of a mystery. I suspect an Italian origin, possibly Jewish, but know almost nothing, and my cousin on that side is equally mystified. Sounds like a good case for yDNA testing. Of course, I came from England to the US myself, so that part is not exactly an unknown.

[Michael Weatherhead]

Sorry Michael but I have two issues with your last post.
!. Using the term Frenchie, rather like me using the term septic for Americans and
2. the french often pronounce a word ending in T with the T silent or very soft. ( as inthe phrase s'il vous plait ) They would not sound it as Americans or Australians do, after all, it's the french language they are speaking .
Cheers.

I know that the T is silent. That is what clued me in, about the misspellings of my ancestor, by the census takers, in their day. When I said "Frenchie," I probably should have said Frenchman, or French person.

[Michael Weatherhead]

Sorry Michael but I have two issues with your last post.
!. Using the term Frenchie, rather like me using the term septic for Americans and
2. the french often pronounce a word ending in T with the T silent or very soft. ( as inthe phrase s'il vous plait ) They would not sound it as Americans or Australians do, after all, it's the french language they are speaking .
Cheers.

I know that the T is silent. That is what clued me in, about the misspellings of my ancestor's name, by the census takers, in her day. When I said "Frenchie," I probably should have said Frenchman, or French person. I didn't know that was going to offend someone.

[neloon]

Talking of misspellings, it's geneAlogy
Alan

[Michael Weatherhead]

I know that the T is silent. That is what clued me in, about the misspellings of my ancestor's name, by the census takers, in her day. When I said "Frenchie," I probably should have said Frenchman, or French person. I didn't know that was going to offend someone.

My computer was acting up, and I thought I lost the first post. I didn't know that both posts would show up. I apologize.