I heard a respected genealogy expert (Arlene Eakle) once say that you could and should check 50 sources to fully document any one family group. Bet we’ve not been doing that, right?

Two places we might look are places were family trees are posted and genealogists collaborate. WikiTree has been around since 2009, currently (as of March 2026) has 1,326,162 community members with 44,622,928 ancestors on trees. Geni offers 208,319,099 profiles connected in its trees. 

Both websites are free so why not check them out?

Wikitree Strong Points: strong focus on accuracy and sourcing; collaborative environment, free access and helpful community.  Potential Weaknesses:  relies on user input; potential for inaccuracies and unsourced claims, not a record repository and can be clunky and unintuitive.

Geni Strong Points:  collaborative world family tree; curator program, DNA features, GEDCOM support. Limitations: reliance on user-generated content; lack of internal record database and does offer subscription for premium features.

Recommendations: always verify information; focus on well-sourced profiles, consult original sources whenever possible, don’t rely on any one tree for all your information; use these collaborative websites as starting points not definitive sources; always cite your sources.