G2G: Question about Geneanet

Question

In my never-ending quest to discover all of my family tree I came across a site called Geneanet. I'm looking for a family tree website that is going to help me find accurate information about family members that I don't know much about.

So how accurate is Geneanet?

Answer 1

Every website with posted family trees has good work, and not so good. My experience with Geneanet has generally been good. I have found some well sourced trees, and many without. Of those without that I was interested in, I looked for the original sources, and had excellent results in verifying the data. This is not to say you should take the information at face value, you should absolutely verify it.

Geneanet also also a lot of primary source material that is available for paid subscribers. However, with a free account you can post a family tree, and you have access to all the reporting and charting functions, both of which are quite good.

Geneanet was originally focused on French genealogy, considering its founders are French, and it was headquartered in Paris.

Geneanet was founded in 1996, and currently has 3-4 million members. There are both free and paid (“Premium”) accounts. The Premium Edition (for search primary records)  is available without cost through the Family History Centers.

In 2021 Geneanet was acquired by Ancestry. If you have an Ancestry account you will occasionally see Geneanet family tree references.

For European families Geneanet is worth looking at, but the reach is certainly global. For example, I have found some very useful, and valid, Mexican genealogy.

Answer 2

The simple answer is, that if you want accurate information about your family, don't look at family trees. I've been working on my own family where some of the parents are wrong in other trees, as they don't have access to all the sources. Rather than trees, look for the original sources :)

Edit: spelling !

Comments

As Gill says and I agree,

Please be aware!   These are a collection of family trees from My Heritage that can be both correct and incorrect with the same inaccuracies for years.   Diligence is always the answer.

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Thanks Linda :)

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I find it worthwhile to look at trees on other websites. Of course there are mistakes and assumptions and often no sources.

Being aware of all that, I look at the trees and check the sources, if the sources are good I find that source at its source. Then I cite the source when I am sure of it.

Disregarding the work of others because you assume it is wrong is an error. Other trees often have hints and sources that can be researched and used.

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I agree with Gill. Family trees can help with hints, but most I've looked at on Geneanet and Ancestry are short on source material. They may be correct, but how do you know? FamilySearch is better because of the way in which sources can be linked to profiles, but there are mistakes there also, because sometimes incorrect sources are attached to a profile which lead to incorrect data and/or relationships.

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An aunt of my mother is shown twice on FamilySearch, with her actual birth date and several census records, as the 1st child in the family.

When she married the 3rd time, she changed her birth year by more than 20 years, she made her name cuter (but still the same) and became the 11th child (as shown on Family Search). I know that my facts are correct because I knew her with the third husband!  I left a note several years ago on FS, but one has to search for the note.

Those notes should show!  On ancestry I found a 6 year old girl transcribed as ʻfather-in-lawʻ, but I looked at the source doc. which showed ʻfoster dtrʻ.  Someone had left a note about that, but I could not see the note until I started to add one.

Sorry for the unrelated rant!

Look at other trees, only take away what you can prove, and if the transcription is strange, look at the document.

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Hi Kristina!

I's not so much assuming they are wrong, as assuming they are right. Of course everything needs to be double checked. I have to say that I never, ever go by family trees and always do my own research first, Yes, they are useful for clues. Unfortunately, some sources will only be found on other subscription sites, and that's where the problem lies! If Ancestry and Familysearch have a likely record, it's understandable that you'd go for that one, but then you find that Findmypast had a much more likely record that isn't found on the other two sites.
My experience is that people have settled for the easily found records that are wrong. Completely not their fault, just down to not having access to all the records.

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Hi Kristina,

Concerning your comment on FamilySearch notes ("These notes should show!"), FamilySearch now has a feature by which one can force an alert to appear saying "Important research has been done on this person. Please read these alert notes before making changes". You can edit your note and tick a box to ensure that the alert appears.

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I will go look for that. I was on the page yesterday but did not know to look.