sharingresearch Archives

How does Tree Sweeper work to reduce errors in collaborative family trees?

This tool is blissfully simple. Just login using your FamilySearch account.

Tree Sweeper front page — Tree Sweeper Home Page

Once you are logged in, there is a simple ‘options’ screen. You decide which person in the tree you wish to start with. I would suggest for your first sweep that you choose ‘Current User’, i.e. yourself. Be aware that the tool sweeps ancestors rather than descendants. Therefore, it will always be working backwards from your chosen starting point.

You can specify how many generations (up to 7) you would like to check for errors. You can also decide what kinds of errors to look for – definite errors, possible errors, or ‘research opportunities’ (which includes finding duplicates). Or you can just check everything.

Tree Sweeper options page — Defining which errors you are seeking to correct, and in which part of the tree…

In the example below I chose to check 5 generations back from myself for definite errors. Tree Sweeper found five errors, and I can see already someone has been playing around in the tree. I have never heard of Edith Mary Bland! The red flag next to each of these listed people shows the number of impossibilities in the information currently listed for them. You can download the full list as a PDF via the big green ‘Download Results’ button.

Tree Sweeper errors in collaborative family tree

Results of the defined Tree Sweep

Click on the dropdown arrow next to Edith’s name to reveal details of the error. According to the tree, she was christened before she was born. If I click on the green button below her ID number, I will be taken to her page and be able to assess and fix the problem.

Tree Sweeper errors in collaborative family tree detailed

The dropdown to the right of Edith’s name shows the exact problem

Once errors have been fixed, it is then a great idea to click the ‘watch’ star on the person’s page. This means that if anyone comes along and alters anything to do with this person you will be notified. This will give you the chance to assess what they have done, and potentially collaborate with a fellow researcher who is quite possibly a relative. It also gives you the chance to change things back if you are sure what they have done is not correct!

Does Tree Sweeper do the trick?

Tree Sweeper is a fantastic tool for peace of mind. You can monitor your family line and make sure it stays correct. This is a great benefit for you, the wider research community and the memory of your ancestors. If this tool persuades just a few more people to take part in a collaborative family tree without fear of pervasive errors taking over, that is a great thing for the genealogical community!

…that is the question.

Whether or not to share your research is an ongoing controversy in the genealogical community. Most of us these days have at least part of our research online. We may be building our tree on one of the major genealogy sites, such as Ancestry, Findmypast, or MyHeritage. We may have uploaded part or all of it to a communal tree such as at Familysearch or Geni. Or we may have our own family history website. Others prefer to do their research in an offline program such as Rootsmagic or FamilyTree Maker. Still others are truly old school and prefer to just utilise paper and filing methods to keep their genealogical research organised.

Sharing your research is a very personal decision. Today I will go through some of the pros and cons. However, you will come to see that I feel quite strongly in favour of choosing to share your research. I’m proudly biased in this respect!

Sharing your research – the benefits

Imagine there are three people of the same name living in the same town at the same time. They are all of roughly the same age. You know one is from that town originally, the other two have come from somewhere else during the course of their lives. However, there’s only a vague suggestion of where those places are, and you cannot find official birth records for any of them. You have all their birthdates from their headstones. Which one is yours?

Then you find that another researcher has apparently identified the correct one, and has that family line extended for another five generations. Fantastic! You write to them and ask them how they identified that person. You can’t see for yourself because the tree is private. They may not write back. Or if they do, they may say only that they have the family bible listing birthdates. Which they refuse to share. So, do you take a risk and just believe their research without seeing any evidence? Of course not. You’re stuck.

share your research family bible — Only one branch of your family (at most!) will have the family bible. (Image: David Ball)

However, if they are kind enough to share what they have, either by opening up their tree for you so you can evaluate their evidence, or sending you a scan of the page of that bible, you can continue on with your research with a brick wall overcome. And when you, in turn, find information that they don’t have for that family line (perhaps a gem such as a photo of your ancestors in common), you’ll return that favour, won’t you? After all, you are cousins!

Everyone has access to different sources by virtue of what has come down through the family, or different subscriptions to databases held by different researchers. Someone may be close to where things happened and has access to local archives. Someone may simply have more research experience and know of obscure places to search.

By sharing with your cousins and vice versa, the tree for that line can be progressed more quickly and reliably, and BOTH of you have found another branch of the family by finding one another. Of course, you still need to check the validity of anything someone shares with you. If you find it is not accurate, you can (gently) let them know and help them to make their tree more valid too. This helps to prevent misinformation from being spread by the people who just copy things from one tree to another without checking.

Why do people refuse to share their research?

These are the most common statements I see when this topic pops up in forums:

It’s MY family. Why should I share my research with a stranger?
I have spent a lot of money on these documents, why should I share them?
I have spent a lot of time on this research, why should I share it?
This person has a large tree, therefore they are just ‘name-gatherers’ not proper family historians.
I had to do it all myself, and it was hard work, why shouldn’t they?

My thoughts on these questions…

First of all, the people who approach someone about a particular person on a tree is likely to be a cousin, and the information shared could prove or disprove it. If the relationship is proven, they are a distant family member. That’s got to be good, right?

Secondly, everyone spends a lot of money and time on their family research if they’re doing it right – it’s the nature of the beast. Wouldn’t it be good if we could ease that burden for others, and have it eased ourselves by sharing what we have with each other? I have scanned all my documentary sources purchased over the years and attached them to the relevent people in my main family tree. Literally everything I have is there for people to use. Yes they cost a lot of money and took a lot of time to gather, but it’s not costing me anything extra to share it and will save others the expense.

Thirdly, a large tree doesn’t necessarily equate to a sloppy researcher who just gathers names. My main tree is huge. I make no apology for that. It contains 35 years of research not just of my family, but my husband’s family, stepfamily (all of these with collateral lines snaking out from them), a few one name studies…you get the idea. And I source it all.

Lastly, yes it’s hard work. We all appreciate that. If someone writes with a specific question, they are not taking your life’s work away from you, they are just trying to clarify a particular point to get them over a hurdle. If they write with a non-specific question that sounds like they just want to access and copy your tree, ask them to be more specific. Their request may have been poorly worded to give that impression. Of course, there are some who want an easy ride without doing any work themselves. Or they may not be related at all but think your work looks like a good fit. By all means, vet them. But if a request looks genuine, why not give them a helping hand and pay it forward. You would have appreciated the same assistance if it was offered you early in your research. And probably did.

Share your research, it helps everyone, including you!

In conclusion, I believe that working together as different branches of the same family line can only help us all. It helps ensure that we are all on the right track, adds to the validity of everyone’s trees and we give each other access to things that only our branches may know building a deeper, richer shared family history. By collaborating with other researchers, I have also forged some strong friendships with my distant family which has been an unexpected but welcome bonus!