Description

Is Your Family Tree Documented—or Just Repeated?

Online family trees can grow quickly.

One person adds a relationship. Someone else copies it. Another tree repeats it. Eventually the same information may appear dozens of times even though nobody has documented where it originally came from.

Other problems can include:

• children attached to the wrong parents
• two similarly named people combined into one person
• impossible or unlikely dates
• conflicting birthplaces
• undocumented maiden names
• census records attached to the wrong household
• relationships supported only by another online tree
• records that contradict the tree
• generations extended beyond what the available evidence actually establishes

A Family Tree Evidence Audit is designed to identify those weaknesses before you build additional research on top of them.

I will review one defined branch of your existing family tree, examine the evidence you already have, and evaluate whether the key relationships and facts appear:

• well supported
• partially supported
• uncertain
• contradicted
• unsupported with the evidence provided

When appropriate, I may conduct limited source checking to clarify an obvious issue, but this is primarily an audit and evaluation service, not a full new genealogy research project.

What I Will Evaluate

Depending on the branch and material supplied, I may review:

Parent-Child Relationships

Does the evidence actually support the claimed parents?

Spouse Relationships

Is the marriage or partnership supported by appropriate evidence?

Identity

Do the records appear to refer to the same person, or might two people have been combined?

Dates

Do birth, marriage, death, and residence dates make chronological sense?

Locations

Are places consistent with the available records and known family movements?

Source Quality

Is a claim supported by an original or reliable record, or only by another family tree?

Contradictory Evidence

Do records disagree about names, ages, parents, birthplaces, or other important facts?

Missing Evidence

Which important relationships or facts currently lack adequate documentation?

Research Risk

Which unsupported claim could cause the greatest damage if you continue building the family tree from it?

What You Will Receive

Your audit will normally include:

Audit Overview

A concise assessment of the overall reliability of the branch reviewed.

Relationship Review

Evaluation of the important family connections within scope.

Evidence Status

Significant relationships and facts may be classified as:

• Well Supported
• Reasonably Supported
• Needs More Evidence
• Conflicting
• Unsupported

These labels describe the evidence reviewed in the project. They are not formal genealogical certification.

Problems and Contradictions

A clear explanation of important inconsistencies.

High-Priority Corrections

The entries most likely to require correction, removal, or additional verification.

Missing Evidence

Important relationships or facts that need stronger documentation.

Recommended Next Steps

Specific research that would most effectively strengthen the branch.

What I Need From You

Please provide:

1. The specific family-tree branch you want audited.
2. Names of the individuals included.
3. Approximate dates and locations.
4. A GEDCOM excerpt, screenshots, PDF, tree export, or other readable representation of the branch.
5. Source citations associated with the people reviewed.
6. Relevant records you already possess.
7. Notes from previous research.
8. Relationships or facts you already suspect may be incorrect.
9. Conflicting information you have encountered.
10. Your main reason for requesting the audit.

If your full tree is very large, please identify the branch you want reviewed rather than sending an unlimited tree for complete analysis.

What This Service Is Not

This is an evidence audit of an existing tree.

It is not:

• a complete rebuild of your family tree
• unlimited review of an entire large genealogy database
• full new research on every ancestor
• guaranteed proof of every relationship
• a formal genealogical certification
• a lineage-society application review
• a citizenship-by-descent review
• legal heirship research
• DNA or genetic-genealogy analysis
• unknown-parentage investigation
• adoption research
• living-person background investigation
• professional foreign-language translation
• an on-site archive or courthouse service
• guaranteed identification of the correct family structure

When additional research is necessary, I will identify it rather than silently expanding the audit into unpaid research.

Online Trees Are Clues, Not Proof

A relationship appearing in many public family trees does not necessarily make it correct.

Multiple trees may all have copied the same original error.

For that reason, I evaluate the underlying records and source information whenever available rather than counting how many online trees repeat a claim.

An unsourced relationship may still ultimately be correct, but it should be treated as a research hypothesis rather than established fact until adequate evidence supports it.

Limited Source Checking

This audit primarily evaluates your existing tree and supplied evidence.

I may perform limited independent checking where a quick record search can:

• clarify an obvious contradiction
• distinguish two similarly named people
• determine whether a cited record actually supports the claim
• identify an obvious missing source

Extensive new research is not included.

If a relationship needs concentrated investigation, I may recommend:

• Historical Genealogy Record Search
• Single Ancestor Genealogy Research
• Genealogy Research Plan
• Family Line Research
• Genealogy Brick-Wall Investigation

Revisions

One clarification/revision is included.

A revision covers correction, clarification, organization, or reasonable adjustment to the audit within the original scope.

It does not include reviewing additional relatives, evaluating major new evidence, auditing another branch, or conducting additional research.

What Happens After You Order

1. I will contact you by email. I will request the specific branch you want reviewed along with an appropriate tree export, GEDCOM excerpt, screenshots, PDF, source citations, records, research notes, and any relationships you already suspect may be incorrect.
2. You provide the existing evidence. This service works primarily from the tree and documentation already assembled rather than beginning a complete new research project.
3. I audit the defined branch. I evaluate important relationships, identities, dates, locations, source quality, contradictions, missing evidence, and the claims most likely to create problems if the tree is extended farther.
4. You receive the audit electronically. The report identifies well-supported, uncertain, conflicting, or unsupported areas and explains the highest-priority corrections or research needs.

If concentrated new research is necessary to resolve a problem, I will identify that separately rather than silently expanding the audit.

Research Focus

My strongest experience is with United States family-history research, with particular familiarity with western Pennsylvania families, records, communities, and migration patterns.

Refunds & Cancellations

Because this is a customized research or consulting service, cancellation and refund eligibility depends in part on whether substantive work has begun. Please review our Refund & Cancellation Policy before placing your order.

Research background: Approximately 17 years of family-history research experience, primarily personal extended-family and friends’ research before the recent expansion into paid client work.

 

If the audit identifies one questionable ancestor or relationship that needs new research, Single Ancestor Research or Brick-Wall Investigation may be the appropriate next step.