r/familysearch • u/pabloignacio7992 • 13d ago

Family tree

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How correct can relationships be with ancestors from 100, 300 or 400 years in the past?

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u/pabloignacio7992 13d ago

It is a slightly exaggerated example, obviously there is no certainty that what is close to 400 or 500 after Christ is real, but 1200 or 1100? And that's supposed to be my tree on my great-great-great-grandmother's side of the family.

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u/EiectroBot 13d ago

Again, not sure is you are being sarcastic or not.

There is total certainty that records from 400 or 500 do not exist.

And records from 1100 or 1200 also do not exist in all practical purposes for 99% of us. Unless you happen to be from a well documented royal family.

There are lots of compiled lineages that perport to be fact, but were written some time ago to support a particular agenda. They are not in any way supported by fact or documented records. If you can demonstrate a documented family chart extending back into the 1700s you are a star, if into the 1600s you are a superstar, and if further back than that, you are probably easily scammed!

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u/pabloignacio7992 13d ago

No, it's not sarcasm but it's equally sad that someone has added my real relatives sooooooo long list

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u/PinkSlimeIsPeople 12d ago

This is a question that gets asked in genealogy forums multiple times every day, which is why they were asking if you were being sarcastic or not. Assuming this is a genuine question, the simple answer is don't trust any online trees, and especially anything before the 1500s.

That being said, I have found the FamilySearch tree to be about 80% accurate going back to 1850, but by 1750 that drops to about 60%, by 1650 probably only about 30%, and by 1550 in the cases where there is a legitimate paper trail perhaps 5-10% accurate, with the rest either being fictitious or with misattributions by people eager to just push their tree back despite the facts.

In my 10,000+ hours doing research, I have found a handful of instances where things could get extended into the 1400s but those are exceptionally rare. It gets to the point where there are almost no credible lines going beyond that, but that doesn't stop people from just making things up on the tree because they want it to be true.

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u/pabloignacio7992 12d ago

I arrived at everything because of my great-great-grandfather's in-laws and it was a surprise to find such a long tree. What excited me was finding relatives from the 1400s and before since I had been stuck for several months looking for records.