Ancestors...again

This is another rant. I'm so sorry, but I'm bordering on pissed.

If you want to research your ancestors, please do. It's fun and it gives meaning to those who came before you. These wonderful ancestors of ours did not have an easy life. The problems they faced in relocating were beyond anything we can imagine today. The journey across the ocean was not taken lightly. They knew boarding the ship there was a chance they would never arrive to the distant shore. There were large numbers of burial at seas during those days.

They under took such a risk to give all of us a better life than what they had in their home country.

Since they took that risk for us, the very least we can do is respect them enough to publish online the facts as facts and the maybes with a note that what you suspect hasn't been proven yet.

In 1983 my mother compiled a book called Braden: Descendants of John and Leticia 1800-1983.

It took her years and a lot of money to get the documentation to prove what she put in the book was FACT not FICTION. Not only that, but she included copies of her supporting documents in the book. Yes, there are typos. But a teeny tiny bit of research will clear those up.

I've spent the last few days typing into my MacFamily Tree the names and dates from her book. Including the index it's 437 pages of information. For anyone who wants more information on that side of the family it's pretty close to being a Braden family bible. It is researched thoroughly and in the introduction she stated what she had left that she wanted to prove, but couldn't prove at this time.

Today, I went to Ancestry.com to see if anyone else had gone back past John and Leticia. I came away in this frame of mind.

If you do a search on John and Leticia you won't find them. I checked the other family trees that had some of the descendants in them. One, they spelled Leticia's name differently. The most common was Letitia. Hey, I have a copy of her marriage record from Ohio. It CLEARLY states that on November 21st, 1837 John Braden and Leticia Braden were united in marriage by Hugh S Fullerton.

Anyone can request a copy of that record. ANYONE. Why did you not do so?

James Watt Braden, John and Leticia's son, married only once. There was no second marriage. He was my great, great grandfather. He did not die in Iowa. He died in Athens Township, Jewell County, Kansas, USA on 13 Dec. 1913. I know this for a fact. How do I know it as fact? Because I have a copy of his death certificate from the State of Kansas.

On the same death certificate it asks name of father: John Braden. Birth place of father: Ireland. Maiden name of mother: Letticia Braden (so for those of you who have her maiden name as something else, she was a Braden before marriage and after marriage). Birth place of mother: Ireland.

Just where did those of you (and there are almost all of you) who have her being more in Ross County, Ohio, USA getting your facts? Oh, that's right, you just put it up there with zero supporting documents.

My mother got her facts right before the age of computers. She did it by sending out snail mail letters with an SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) in each request to a relative. Less than 50% of her SASE's ever came back. She did it by sending another request to the counties, states, etc., paying for each document she has to support her book.

Your ancestors weren't lazy when they made the decision to forge a new life for themselves and future generations. The early researchers were not lazy either when trying to trace our lines back as far as they could.

Respect not only those who came before you, and who will come after you, but show enough respect for yourself to make sure what you publish online is either FACT or be honest and state there is no documentation to support your theory.

None of us can get very far in tracing our lines back without the help of so many others. Make sure when people think of you as a source they think of you as a reliable source and not a hack. Please.