# Working with ancestry.com **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 10, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545 "2015-09-10T20:07:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545/21 "2015-09-28T15:39:20Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > I gather that I don’t have to go thru that riggamarole while entering a couple generations of my own family. I’d recommend using good habits right off the bat. Your information will live on after you are gone, you know. There are way too many people out there putting crap online that has little basis in fact. Then other people copy it to their own family trees, and it eventually becomes accepted as true. Start a paper folder and put things like birth certs, etc. in it as you obtain them. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545/22 "2015-10-09T17:19:02Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’d recommend using good habits right off the bat. Your information will live on after you are gone, you know. There are way too many people out there putting crap online that has little basis in fact. Then other people copy it to their own family trees, and it eventually becomes accepted as true. Start a paper folder and put things like birth certs, etc. in it as you obtain them. Will do. I just started…had enough info off the top of my head to list me and two generations on both sides above me and got 14 leafs. Didn’t really look at those yet. I’m guessing that the next step is to confirm that they have the right person and to link it (ex. census record) to the person on my tree. I didn’t see any place to put in my spouse or kids. Maybe its designed that way and they would have to enter themselves? Then again, I would want to enter my parent’s and grandparents sibling’s if I could…hmmmmm??? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545/23 "2015-10-09T18:11:17Z")
> [@purplehearingaid](#): > > There a religious web site for family research and it’s free, I wish I could remeber which religious it was . UGH ! Look at post #5. Almost certainly [familysearch.org](http://familysearch.org) ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545/24 "2015-10-09T20:56:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’d recommend using good habits right off the bat. Your information will live on after you are gone, you know. There are way too many people out there putting crap online that has little basis in fact. Then other people copy it to their own family trees, and it eventually becomes accepted as true. Start a paper folder and put things like birth certs, etc. in it as you obtain them. Amen to this. Trying to clean up the crap that is associated with my tree because of what other people have done is one of my least favorite parts of ancestry. There are a lot of people out there who apparently want me to be related to the Alden family, but it just ain’t so. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545/25 "2015-10-12T13:23:37Z")
> [@What\_the](#): > > Will do. I just started…had enough info off the top of my head to list me and two generations on both sides above me and got 14 leafs. Didn’t really look at those yet. I’m guessing that the next step is to confirm that they have the right person and to link it (ex. census record) to the person on my tree. > > I didn’t see any place to put in my spouse or kids. Maybe its designed that way and they would have to enter themselves? Then again, I would want to enter my parent’s and grandparents sibling’s if I could…hmmmmm??? I was exactly right but didn’t realize it. They ask if this is the right person…yes/no/maybe …and then the next step is to select the data that you want to save. I didn’t notice that and fear that I may have not selected something I should have. I also tried to add G-G-G parents to my tree from a census record but they showed up in my tree in the wrong place. “Quit asking questions and just jump in”, you might say. I hear you but I’m trying to understand it a little better before my dad and I get started big time (see post #1). He wants to be part of the “fun” !! Here’s my strategy… 1. work with my dad on my tree 2. get one of my brothers to start a trial (maybe a world-wide version) to see how he is able to incorporate the info from step 1 3. Have my dad set up his own trial/account and turn him loose. He has other friends and a library that can help later when I am out of the picture. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/working-with-ancestry-com/730545.md?page=1)