...to ask the any MN Genealogists for family tree/Ancestry tips?

[QueenOfPain]

As it says on the tin.

Have just started building a family tree on ancestry.co.uk and with the £19.99 a month subscription seem to have gathered a rather comprehensive tree quite rapidly, alarmingly so.

I fear I’ve unwittingly accepted hints that may be mistakes or have attributed sources to the wrong person (I.e. where the name Charles has been used for different people of different generations).

Could you suggest how to stay methodical? How far back to go? Who to include and who not to bother with adding? E.g. Do I need my 3rd great uncles father in law in there at this early stage? Is it making my life harder?

Any particular quirks or strange conventions to look out for? Families reusing the names of deceased infants seems to create complications, anything similar to that?

Found a record for my third great grandmother (my dads, dads, mums, mums, mum), which fits with the rest of my tree, but then ancestry presented me with an entry on the NSW, Register of Convicts Applications to Marry 1826-1851 where she is listed under a different maiden name to the one she returns to England using (and is documented on the marriage certificate). So she goes to Australia age 6 with her convict dad (John Handebow/Handibo who stole sheep) as Eliza Handebow, sought permission to marry (George Curtis) in the same name, on return to England marries George, but their marriage certificate says Eliza March married George Curtis.

Would she have used a different name to avoid the shame of her fathers crime or something else? Is it two different people being conflated? Is there a place I can look for ideas about any strange conventions like this?

Any help appreciated, as this is very enjoyable and I’m already quite invested, have shed a few tears for the sad stories of some of my ancestors.

Congrats for starting the best hobby ever imho!
Firstly you should invest in paper records at least for the first few generations so you can be sure you are on the right track.
Double check anything you left from another's tree.
Do the ancestry test in time as it can help you make connections when records fail.
If you get stuck then go sideways eg research siblings and cousins, eventually you get through the brick wall!
Look your family up in the British Newspaper Archives as well
Try and be methodical as you work backwards and remember if you are lucky the 1939 Register will connect you with late 1800 births - and give you their dob.
Try gro.gov.uk index Online to find sibling groups as this index gives you the maternal surname.

You'll uncover a lot of strange anomalies in records. Record takers make mistakes, spell wrong or sometimes just approximate.
Iirc there's an archive of Australian newspapers online. I'd have a look there for more info as communities were close knit and may have reported the engagement etc.
Is it possible she married March before Curtis?

Can you attach original documents to the Ancestry tree? Like gravestones or birth certificates. Any "fact" without some kind of corroboration I would take as suggested not confirmed.

How far back depends on you. I started by going back to European migration (am American). Nowadays, I am more & more interested in life stories and pictures than dates & facts.

In my family tree eldest daughter gets named after father's mother; eldest son gets named after mother's father. I don't see names reused for next babies very often.

You're always gonna find puzzles like Handebow-March...

My research uncovered that my grandfather (who was illegitimate) made up a father on his marriage certificate - he gives a name and a profession but no such person ever existed. I assume he did this to cover up his illegitimacy and/or because he was embarrassed about not knowing who his father was. This was relatively recently (1930s).

Interestingly my grandmother, who was also illegitimate, had no such qualms and doesn't give any details on the same certificate.

Thanks everyone so far, I guess I just needed reassurance that I’m not making grave mistakes and sometimes unexplained things do just pop up and there’s no apparent reason for it.

My greatest discovery on my tree so far is that I’m actually related to one of my best friends! Childhood dreams come true, hah.

A section of my tree matched up with a tree for a user with the same name as BFF’s Mum, so I messaged her mum to ask about if it belonged to her and it was her tree. Very distant cousins but nice to know we’ve found our way back to family without ever even realising. I wonder what our common ancestors would have thought to that?