Several of the fee-based genealogical research sites will offer up “hints” of records that may be for your ancestor.

These hints are often based on search parameters, what you have in your tree, what others have in their tree on the (supposedly) same ancestor, etc. These hints are not analyzed by any human. They are dished up by a computer algorithm.

Sometimes they are right and other times they are not. It is up to you to determine if the hint is in fact a record for your ancestor. The name may be similar but the person may still be different. The location or likely age of the person may indicate that it is someone entirely different. But do not just automatically assume the hint has to be right because a computer or website dished it up to you.

Think of the hints as automatic matches on a dating site. Would you automatically date the first person the algorithm suggested you should without giving any thought to it? Treat the genealogy hints the same way.

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