When you first started

[MissEDashwood]

I'm currently trying to create a rough hard copy of a family tree I've worked on 8 years, is it just me, or is anyone else shocked with how sloppy they were to begin with?

Luckily I've made no errors, but I've often saved irrelevant stuff to people.

Thank goodness you get better with time.

Are there any newbies who would like hints/tips etc?

Yes, jumped in and followed false lines.
But I'm proudest of dismissing one false train that had my Grandmother's youngest brother as a Viscount - funnily enough there was more than one Sydney (fairly common surname) born in London in the 1910s.

Tip: document your sources in as much detail as possible.
Oh and take everything with a pinch of salt!

Where do you get all of the info from?

Just Ancestry and knowing the way to get maiden names.

It's experience too, you learn techniques, methods, etc.

Take 'other family trees' as a suggestion, as in write it down, then check, check, check.

So for maiden names go to the man, search for marriage records. Also check census for where the wife was born. If you're lucky, this is usually a squeal moment, but getting church records with brides Dads name, so you can correlate censuses.

Admittedly Ancestry is costly but has lots of users and the records are amazing compared to 8/9 years ago, when I'd have to go to libraries and search through microfiches.

Some vicars had ermm cough illegible handwriting cough!

Oh but some Vicars were wonderful recording "extra" stuff eg Birth dates or sometimes even maiden names for mothers.

I would be glad of any tips please!

I signed up for the Ancestry free trial this week. I have done one of their DNA tests and a couple of third and fourth cousins contacted me and wanted to see my tree, and I was so excited to get started that I think I've made errors. I've merged info from other people's trees that I think might be different people with the same name (they were suggested to me as hints), and I think I've been too quick to move forward without checking facts. My ancestors annoyingly used different variations of first names and sometimes middle names, and I'm finding the hand-written records very hard to decipher!

The other trees that I've merged info with; would the owners of those trees show as DNA matches if they have my shared ancestors in them? I haven't got very far back yet, maybe to 3xgreat grandfather (if it's right ).