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  1. #1
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default Check your research tree grabbers

    sigh* for their own sake I wish folk would check their info. I have a tree on Anc. and of course I get notification when someone downloads info from my tree. Being the curious sort I follow it up to see if they are a relative who may have more info or to whom I can off more info and to see if they were on the right track. Recently someone (no names no packdrill) downloaded a whole bunch of info from my tree so I had a look and discovered that they had back tracked from an ancestor born 1813 who had died in Stafford in 1852. However according to their tree he had died in Ontario in 1847. Obviously not the same person but may be a cousin as they had him born in Stafford. Well a bit of searching through my dead relative files (as my wife calls them) failed to turn up a suitable match for them. So I had a closer look at their tree and discovered that they also had him married to a different woman in Northampton in 1843. Well it didn't take me long to discover their ancestor in the 1841 census born in county (Northampton) right age and everything, miles away from Stafford. So someone has a whole bunch of photos, will transcripts and stories attached to parents and siblings who are nothing to do with their ancestor. We all make errors but yoiu would think that someone would check the facts on the linking ancestor before they went and sprinted off down the wrong path. Curiously for the ancestor in question I have a quite a bit of info on them (apprentice records, marriage certs (to different wife), death cert. etc. which they have not touched which makes me suspect a blatant disregard for the facts. It doesn't bother me but they are only fooling themselves.

  2. #2
    Knowledgeable and helpful stepives's Avatar
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    Jun 2011
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    Ireland, but born Buckinghamshire.
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    Default

    Happens all the time Zen. Unfortunately for my 'copyists', they took all my early(and wrong) research info from my tree.

    I have done the same as you, and have found marriages after they had died on those 'tree knappers' records.

    Steve.

  3. #3
    Brick wall demolition expert!
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    Sep 2005
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    Default

    I know just what you mean and I take comfort from the fact that anyone who is genuinely interested in their family history will compare different trees and see pretty quickly which one is soundly based and which one is load of rubbish. That has happened to me recently, where someone has contacted me rather than others because mine is consistent and cites credible sources.

    I have a case in point where 2 different people are researching the husband's line of one of my ancestors - they have added 5 or 6 children to the couple, despite the fact that the censuses that they are referencing don't shown them (these censuses are the ones for my family). They have referenced the same censuses multiple times in different locations, (which has added additional non-existent spouses) and through the wife they have suddenly whizzed back to 1600!

    I have thought about contacting them, but I came to the conclusion that I would not be able to tell them how wrong they are without being incredibly sarcastic, critical and probably down right rude. So I thought - no I won't bother.

  4. #4
    Knowledgeable and helpful
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Megan Roberts View Post

    I have thought about contacting them, but I came to the conclusion that I would not be able to tell them how wrong they are without being incredibly sarcastic, critical and probably down right rude. So I thought - no I won't bother.
    Same here. I don't mind offering advice to someone who I feel has slipped onto the wrong track (easy enough to do with lots of similar names around) but I tend to steer clear of those who are glaringly wrong. On my tree I always add comments if I feel it is necessary to explain my reasoning behind an entry so that whoever looks can see where I am coming from and decide if I am right or not

  5. #5
    spison
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    It's hard to fathom how they can do it as it must be clear that they differ from the original tree. I accept that some of my branches are unlikely to get back past the 1800s. That way I'm pleasantly surprised if and when they do! To mangle a quote "Expediency is the mother of invention" perhaps?
    Jane

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