Plagiarism in Genealogy

When we think of plagiarism we normally think of books, pictures, or music. Most people don't even connect plagiarism with genealogy.

No matter what industry plagiarism happens in it's basically the same concept. Someone has stolen someone else's work and claims it as their own research/work. In the world of genealogy the majority of genealogists only ask for recognition when you use their hard work. And really is that asking for too much? With some people, yes. Yes, it is. It's asking for more than they dare give up.

It doesn't matter if you're writing the great American novel, a Broadway hit, a fabulous song that will be sung for generations to come, or tracing your families roots, none of these things are done in a vacuum. Watch any awards show and you'll see the winners thanking everyone they can in the few seconds they're allowed. They know without these wonderful family, friends, etc., in their corner they probably would have stayed and ended up working an office job that they'd hate.

When tracing your family roots you must develop relationships with virtual strangers. Sometimes you'll learn that you are related to each other, but the fact remains when you contact that person, or they contact you, it's two strangers during those first few meetings.

I'm very new to genealogy myself. I watched my mother research the various lines for years. For the most part, I didn't see all the day to day struggles she had. When she first started I was in high school and who wanted to pay attention to a bunch of old dead people. Then it was time to move out of my parents home and become an adult. Still, I knew she spent a lot of time and money on getting the wonderful records she left us as her legacy and as our legacy.

No where in her notes were warnings of the blood suckers in the world of genealogy. Maybe she didn't make those notes because she did all her research before the days of the Internet. When she shared she had no way to track who was using what and claiming it as their own work. I also know one thing about my mother, the thought that someone would do that didn't even register on her radar. It didn't register on mine until I saw it.

There are many like me, a second generation of genealogists. One thing we know about our parents who left us their records, we know their work. I can spot my mother's work very easily and quickly.

What new genealogists do not know, most of us who are second generation genealogists have the original records. We have the dated copies of the letters our parent sent to the various offices to get the records. They did not have computer printouts of the census record obtained from ancestry.com. They have copies of the HUGE copy of the original census record. They have the copies of the marriage records, death certificates, etc., that bear a certification from the local level.

We have those original records in our files. We have proof that you stole their work and claimed it as your own. One each one of those records are dated from the organization who sent them the record of when they sent the record to them. We have proof.

So unless you have your own original copy of those records, don't pass them off as your work. Give credit to the person who actually did the work. Stop being a thief. Stop trying to pretend you're something you're not. Any genealogist who believes in accuracy can spot a fake and the plagiarist within three minutes of looking at that person's tree.

It's the same with pictures. Stealing someone else's family picture without giving them credit for sharing it with you is plagiarism. Making it appear that you have the connections to have obtained that picture while living thousands of miles or even in a different country all by yourself is being dishonest.

While there's very little that can be done legally about plagiarism in the world of genealogy, the one weapon we have at our disposal is we can hide our work from you. We can take everything offline or hide our family trees.

Have I done it? Of course I have. Do I know of others who have done so? Of course.

Plagiarism is stealing. Most people don't like thieves. Perhaps if your circle of information is slowly decreasing you should take a good long look in the mirror.