Moderator: Global Moderators
Thank you for helping me with this. Now, even though I still see a 'u' I can see the resemblance with the 'm' in Mary, for example. Absolutley! You should always try to view the original source of the information - as soon as trnascriptions are involved, [later - just noticed this unintentional typo - but it rather proves the point!!] errors can (and do!) creep in... initially I would concentrate your efforts on making sure you have proper documentation for your direct line, then....Do you, as researchers, follow this information up, i.e. obtain the documents for christening or copies of the census entry, to verify the transcription?
That is entirely up to each researcher- but you may miss an awful lot of interesting information if you stick to direct line only. Often you need to move sideways to siblings to find the information you need, and it helps give you a much better idea of the "whole" picture if you are a "Family Researcher" - you will know what names to expect within that family, you will have much more of an idea of what their lives were like. Looking at brothers and sisters of your direct line can also introduce you to other researchers who might even turn out to be distant cousins and they can often help you fill in some of the "blank" areas of you tree which might be very difficult to find out about yourself.how far do you go - do you look for your direct ancestors only (grand- and great grandgrandparents, etc.), or do you also look for records for their siblings?