Before I start actually recording the information I have on the Heneker Family, I realised I need to clean up my online family tree, which is through Ancestry.com. Unsure as I am about whether having a family tree up there for all to see, I realise it is useful, as other family members come out of the woodwork, and are a joy to meet (in person or online). The pro’s of course are many. Lot’s of information I never knew about. The opportunity to share my information with others as well.
The questioning, “is the right person?? or is that his son who had the same name, or grandson, and on and on the naming goes! Always good for other eyes to be spotting what you took as gospel, and to question your research. As much as we would like to think we are right, we all make mistakes or are given incorrect information to start with. This genealogy business can be a quiet solitary affair, or it can bring in people from all over the world. On the down side of course, are the family trees which come up as “hints”. When looking at these, I can be surprised and delighted, annoyed or downright angry, that people have put up my great great grandfather’s name, and birth date (correctly) then put him as being born on a far away island. In this instance, I was for a brief moment thinking I was wrong. (How could that be…ha ha!). After paying for and receiving a copy of his parish baptismal record I am then glad I was right, but still left wondering “do I write and let this person know they are wrong, and if so, how do I do it without sounding like a pompous know it all?” I can only really worry about my own work, and the people (family) I am in touch with who are willing to share and comment. I did write to one person who had incorrect information regarding a family relative. I delicately pointed out the information I had was from a copy of source material I had acquired from the country of their birth. The person wrote back thanking me for the information. The only thing I was a little miffed about was that they did not offer to share any information and I never heard anymore from them. However, I had to realise not everyone is wanting to share, they just want to concentrate on their own journey. It is certainly more of a minefield out there since I first started this journey in the 1980’s. And with the introduction of the internet there are a lot more people who have decided to research their family and put the information online for others to see. At one stage I made my tree private as I became so annoyed at many of the things that people did, and it was taking away my enjoyment. However I recently decided to make it public again, and have now made contact with 2 distant cousins who are quite prolific in their research, and whose family line is via other siblings of my ancestor, so that makes their journey different and interesting as well. This gives me information I didn’t have/know about, and ditto for them as well. Plus, it is just such fun to have 2 new people emailing me, and us sharing family research and general information about ourselves and our lives.
Well I need to get back to transferring my online family tree into the correct order. That is starting with me, not my great great grandfather, because way back when I started I thought it would be a good idea!!!
Heneker - a Pioneering family from Kent to South Australia 