It isn't our Christmas tree I'm still working on. That can wait! It's that damn family tree of mine on ancestry.com. If you remember, I wrote a post last summer about the rating on my ridiculously large family tree. In early April it was only rated 7.9. I was mortified! I vowed to bring it up to 9.1.
I work on it almost every day. Sometimes for hours. There were nearly 64,000 people in it when I started "fixing things." At that time there were about 45,000 people who had issues needing to be resolved, duplicates merged, finding real proof for documentation, or fixing errors. I have to confess, I had no real concept of fixing 45,000 profiles when I started. I just know I've given it my all for 8 months and I have only touched half of those profiles.
I have deleted 4,000 people who really have no real relationship to me, I just added them because I'm a fiend.
As of today, my rating for that tree is 9.0. I still have 23,249 people profiles to resolve if I want a perfect rating. Yep, 23,249! Sheesh. As if! When I reach my goal of 9.1 (any freaking day now!), I will be happy.
I say that trying to convince myself. This is the most fun I've had in many years. I'll never stop.
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| My mother's tree in 1970 |
Well, I don't quite know how it works. Do you mean you have traced thousands and thousands of people that are related to you? My sister has been working on our family history but hasn't gotten back very far...
ReplyDeleteI went on my family tree that I built in ancestry.com, searched for each person's profile that didn't have proof, and added some kind of proof that they were who I claim they were.
DeleteMy sister was into that. She had binders for every branch and boxes of documents and pictures. I have no idea what the rating was on Ancestry. I know she used it for research. She pushed one line back to the 900s. She died suddenly and one of her daughters came and took it all because her unaccomplished son was a history major. This is the daughter that has had little contact with the rest of the family before her mother's death and none at all since.
ReplyDeleteAaaack. Sorry it is currently lost to you.
DeleteI admire your perseverance! I suspect much of my family tree would not follow neat blood lines, but rather lust lines and look more like a swamp than a tree. Nonetheless, here I am : )
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm trying to imagine an ancestry swamp.
DeleteStubborn, or competitive? Or both:) That sounds like so much work. I'm far too lazy for that.
ReplyDeleteStubborn, competitive, and perhaps a little obsessive complusive. It doesn't seem like work to me. It seems like relaxation and fun. I'm not sure why.
DeleteIf it's fun and relaxing, that's excellent then.
DeleteGood Lord! You DO have a ridiculously large family tree. My dad built ours on Ancestry too but I have no idea what we're "rated." I didn't even know ratings were a thing.
ReplyDeleteThey just started rating the trees in early April.
DeleteYes! Fun! Congratulations on achieving 9.0 rating! Genealogy is endless fun for me because it's such a puzzle. I didn't realize how much I love puzzles until I started building a family tree. My father's mother had done extensive work on her tree, but there is a mysterious great-great grandfather on that side who remains a puzzle that continues to intrigue me. Why is his name in the church birth and christening records, given that he didn't marry my great-great grandmother? My mother's side has many more puzzles. What happened to the great-grandfather who "disappeared" when my grandfather was a boy? I've gotten pretty much nowhere with these questions over many years but it doesn't matter. The search itself is fun!
ReplyDeleteYes, I hear you. I have a 5th great grandmother I've been chasing for decades. I fear I'll never find her.
DeleteYou are much more dedicated than I am.
ReplyDeleteDedicated is a nice word. Ha.
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ReplyDeleteWe all have our obsessions or maybe call it a benign hobby horse? Keep it up, you clearly have the hang of it by now and congratulations.
There are three family members on two continents working on it and ,thankfully, all I have to do is translate a bit and help with pictures because no online family tree without images apparently. But I enjoy looking at their work.
My German ancestors are fun to research because Germany kept such excellent birth, marriage, and death records. They even separated them by Protestant or Catholic. Since so many people had the same names, that's really helpful for me. The Irish and Welsh are the worst! They REALLY all had the same names.
DeleteI must say 've never had much interest in my family tree. I admire your persistence in sorting out your own ancestry. It looks like a Herculean task!
ReplyDeleteYou are an interesting person, Nick. Truly your own person.
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