[mass55th]

My ThruLines on my family tree only go back 5 or 6 generations...mostly from late 1600’s to mid 1700’s. Nothing later in the lines. I have connections with many cousins...up to 7th-8th, but not many common ancestors that we share. And quite a few people on my cousin list either don’t have a family tree, or their tree is private. My father’s line is very short. My mother side goes on and on, with many connections I have a hard time believing...too many well-known names that it connects to. Ancestry.com is okay, but I’ve found many of the hints they provide, as well as the family trees they provide you in those hints, are wrong. I only started mine in June, and I’m no where finished with my tree. I’m hoping I live long enough to be able to go back through it all, and correct any errors that I know probably exist.

[Prince of Space]

I’ve been working on our family tree since the late 90’s, thanks to my husband’s aunt who did a lot of preliminary work on it prior to the internet. Hubby’s family goes back to the 1500s and has lots of semi-important ppl in it...revolutionary war heroes, plantation owners, famous Protestant preachers, etc.

Then there’s MY tree, which is full of poor Irish Catholic peasants who have scattered to the four corners of the world. Since they were pretty much illiterate, it’s been a real picnic trying to fill in my family’s history.

Ancestry is a good starting point but so many trees are full of errors — like a 2-year-old giving birth or a woman who is 55 is listed as the mother of so and so. Therefore, any info found needs to be double checked. I have about 225 close matches (1st through 4th cousins) but hubby has over 1000!

[wintertime]

.too many well-known names that it connects to.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This isn’t hard to believe since your mother’s line goes back to the 1600s. Your ancestors of that era likely have millions of descendants.

By the way, if your ancestors of the 1600s were in American, you and I are very likely cousins.