Michael Neill

Michael Neill

@mjnrootdig.bsky.social

Genealogist (author of Genealogy Tip of the Day https://bit.ly/3AEMtte), Casefile Clues, among various other things. #genealogy #familyhistory

578 followers51 following632 posts

No one has "countless" descendants. I don't care how many there are, they are not countless...unless you can't count, but don't say "countless" in an obituary or a social media posting. Just say "numerous" or a "large number," if you don't want to state the actual number. #genealogy

Is my stuffed friend searching the "card catalog," the "catalog,"or the database of library books? I still call it the card catalog, but I don't really think it's a catalog either ;-) #genealogy.

If we use AI to “clarify” or add details to a picture, why not use it to “clarify” or add details to a letter or a brief biography written by a deceased relative? Where does one draw the clarification line? #genealogy

ProGenealogists (the research firm with Ancestry) asked if your relative had an affair with a Duke? Don't they realize that majority of ancestors of most of us lived pretty pedestrian lives? Especially the ones who walked everywhere 😉#genealogy

Do you mix up your "family items from dead people" with other junk? It can be a good way for it all to be trashed when you past--or at least people not realize what it was. Photo and identify those items and let people know where the images/files of identification are #genealogy

Your relative may have given wrong information on a form at some point in their life. It happens…intentionally and otherwise. Many people do it. Even living genealogists occasionally give incorrect or out-of-date information. Look at the weight on your driver’s license. #genealogy

There's really nothing to stop someone from using AI to "enhance" that old family photo you posted online. Nothing. If it's going to really bother you, don't share it. #genealogy

Others may have different #genealogy goals from you. Focus on yours. How are you actively working to achieve them? Do you know what they are? It's fine if you don't really have goals...you fall into the category of people having different goals. But if you have them are you working on them?

The truck is not hauling this sign away. It's just the angle of the photo that makes it appear that way. Does your perspective impact how you view #genealogy information?

A 1940 newspaper from the US indicated a local girl had fallen for a boy from New Zealand and was headed to marry him in September. On 31 Oct 1940 same girl, same last name as originally arrived in Hawaii on a ship, alone, headed back home apparently. Not every intended marriage happens. #genealogy

If you "do" #genealogy research, do you let what you learn about your ancestors cause you to reflect and maybe alter your view of life a little bit or so you see all that you learn as confirming what you already know?

It's our last full-day at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City--so caffeine is needed. All drinks must have a screw top lid and, right after this picture was taken, I put it back in a little pouch in my backpack which keeps it from tipping over...just in case. #genealogy

One has to track the people you've disproved as parents or whatever the case may be. This was to remind while working at the #familysearch Library today that Stephen was not James' father--reasoning is on reverse. #genealogy

I like Notebook from Google. But it still gets things wrong. You HAVE to read and know the material you are having it use. It got some details wrong in this infographic regarding a Civil War soldier's confused places of death in his pension. #genealogy

It's important in #genealogy research to think about what records don't say, but...one needs to be reasonable and not make up details or scenarios that are not necessarily true. Try and find other records to back up what you think one record is leaving out. Avoid creating your own ancestral fiction

Why is this even showing up in my Thrulines? On the left it suggests Mettje's father is an Ubbe G. Bruns. In the text on the right it says someone else. Do I get to pick which one? Shouldn't they at least match? #genealogy

Those pre-1880 US census records don't give relationship to head of household. There could be many different realistic scenarios...not just the ones shown here. #genealogy