Web sites often offer scrambled listings

I spent a couple of hours recently on one of those Web sites that wants to sell personal information on you, me and everyone else on planet Earth.

I didn’t spend a penny, but let’s look at what’s to be found on the free part of such sites – the “index,” if you will.

Plug in a first and last name, and you can find listings in a particular state, or the whole country. You’ll find the name and town – and sometimes the age of a person, and in some cases “relatives” in the same household.

But each person may – or may not – be alive. I found listings for people who have been dead for a number of years, but there’s no way to tell.

People who are divorced appear from some of the listings to still be married.

I found one woman listed as though married to her brother-in-law. (I sure hope his wife doesn’t look at these sites!)

Grown children who long ago moved on to their own homes and lives may still be listed.

And as for those ages – well, some are impressive. I found my college classmate properly listed as a year older than me. We’re less than a month apart in age, but at the time I checked the site, she had had her birthday, whereas I had not.

On the other hand, there are obvious instances when no information was available on the age of one of the adult children in one town – so the age of one of the parents was assigned.

A friend of mine has lived in at least four towns in the last dozen years. I found him listed in all of them – confusing if a relative were trying to track him down.

I don’t really consider these sites genealogical resources. Telephone books probably give us more accurate information, though without ages.

Then there are genealogy sites of various types that allow you to share your research. I submitted a line in one case because there was a mistake in what I found in a particular database.

But I didn’t give out – publish – birth or marriage information on anyone still living. That’s theirs to share, and the Internet has many Web companies that misuse such information.

The first rule of genealogy is, no doubt, document your research. The second? Don’t miss an opportunity to hear Tom Roderick speak.

Tom will speak on “Using DNA Analysis in Genealogical Research” at the next meeting of the Hancock County Genealogical Society, at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 19, in the Riverview Room downstairs at the Ellsworth Public Library.

Tom does a great job making this complex topic easier to understand than anyone else I can think of.

He is a retired geneticist from The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, and former president of the Maine Genealogical Society.

Here’s another great idea. Come take a tour of Mount Hope Cemetery in Bangor along with members of the Penobscot Valley Genealogical Society.

Historian Ryan King, who is most knowledgeable about the cemetery, will lead the tour at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 16.

Meet at the superintendent’s lodge off the State Street entrance to the cemetery.

Notables buried in the cemetery include Vice President Hannibal Hamlin and Revolutionary War soldier Park Holland.

For information, contact Phil Getchell at towncrier2@yahoo.com.

The annual Gray Family Reunion will be held on Saturday, Aug. 26, at the home of Amos and Lola Orcutt in North Orland. Note the change from the usual date.

Bring a hot or cold dish for the dinner at noon, and your own chair. The meeting will be held afterward. For information, contact Michelle at 848-5210.

3372. HESSELTINE-LAMB-MISHIO. Need information, parents for Samuel Hesseltine, born about 1837, probably Winthrop or Dexter. He married Laura Lamb from Greenfield. They had five children: Abby, born 1857, Greenfield; Lydia, born 1860, Greenfield; Charles Edward, born 1862, Greenbush; Timothy, born 1863, Greenbush; Samuel, born 1864, Greenfield. Laura Lamb Hesseltine married 2) Israel Mishio about 1870 and had five more children: Mattie, 1873; Maud, 1873; Mary, 1873; Arthur, 1875; Israel Jr., 1878. Would also like to hear from someone on the Mishio side of the family. Eleanor Crouch, 66 Cardville Road, Greenbush, ME 04418; burnttoast6@midmaine.com

3373. Eastbrook, Maine. Would like to borrow old pictures of Eastbrook and scan them for a pictorial history of the town named for the East Branch of the Union River that flows through Ellsworth. Photos will be printed in 8-inch-by-11-inch format, stored in loose-leaf binder at the Eastbrook Town Hall. Photos are displayed during Eastbrook Days in July at local fire station, and a yearly calendar of selected photos is sold for $20 as a fundraiser for local volunteer fire department. This year’s theme is “Past and “Present.” Calendar can be viewed at www.eastbrookmaine.org/calendar.html and ordered from Diane Collar at 565-3646. Diane Collar, 1044 Macomber Mill Road, Eastbrook, ME 04634; dcollar@midmaine.com

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail, familyti@bangordailynews.net.