Should I start over with my family tree?

Question

This is going to sound insane, I know, but I'm consider wiping out my entire family tree and starting over.  Why, you may ask?  Well, I've recently discovered our "family historian" wasn't keeping the most accurate records.  We shared GEDCOM files several years ago, and I hadn't had much time to research since then.  Now that I am, I'm finding duplicate people, wrong dates, women who gave birth to their own mothers.... you catch my drift, right?

Nothing is sourced - not even mine (I just learned about that, recently) - so I am doubting the accuracy of any of it.  

I know it isn't good to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but it seems like it would be more difficult to go through each person and verify every detail.

Ideas?  Opinions?

Comments

Hi Mandy. I think you're talking about your research and not what you've entered on WikiTree. However, for clarity and for anyone who sees this question in the future: "wiping out" what you've done on WikiTree isn't an option. You can never simply delete profiles, you always need to improve on them. See http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Deletion_FAQ for an explanation.

Answer 1

Currently I am sorting through my own mess. i have records here and there that all laps about 17 years of work. I have my contacts who kept their sources. Yet my own stuffs data is with limited sources. I had used this software and that, put it on a site here moved it there through the years.

My best answer is simple.

You may start over, but do not throw away what you already have. This is the seed to your tree. Starting from scatch is a pain. Knowing the information provided may be false. Still it gives you a general direction.

I once helped a gal who was going through the same thing. Her mother just wanted to impress family members. We sat down and went by individual retracing her tree. It can be more of a pain, but better than starting over.

Start a new tree and go individualy to verify information and sources. Start with you first and trace back. Easier to work on things we now first so that the other piece fit in nicely. Make sure you save your work into a GEDCOM and other media like photos on a disk of some sort.

Also need help, that is what we are here for. A journey is never travled alone.

Gene

Comments

Good advice to KEEP what you have as a resource, even if you start over.  At some point, we all go back through what we have and sometimes old stuff that at one point seemed pointless or irrelevant, takes on a new meaning or becomes an important hint when seen in a new context.

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Oh Mandy - everyone will sympathise with your dilema, the messes we and others make, the learning curve is steep and slippery!

Agree whole-heartedly with both the comments above - take a deep breath and  review each profile and clean up but please don't throw everything out

Good luck and enjoy the hunting :)

Wendy