Genealogy Chat

I had this the other day. Someone had confused their Grandmother with mine thinking that her first married name was her maiden name (she married twice.) He than added all the relatives from her down, including my Dad. I had to contact him and tell him but he insisted on doing his own checks first before he deleted. I even had her marriage cert, which had her maiden name. He has now deleted them but it took a few suggestions that he did, from me Linda

I can understand totally how anyone just starting out can get sucked in when they hear what they think it such great news. I was exactly the same. Luckily, though I'm also determined to get this as right as is humanly possible not only for myself but for my children and grandchildren - there's no point otherwise to all this hard work. I was so disappointed originally when I realised what had happened but at the same time quite excited that I'd got some more digging to do and of course you start getting results and it's all worthwhile. I've seen advice given on this site by so many experienced people about keeping an open mind about something until you've got the evidence and I've found that to be really valuable advice. Jan

You are right, it is fatally easy to make that sort of mistake. There is a relative on this site (no names, no packdrill) who has a positive talent for this. They have shown infants buried as chrisoms as marrying and fathering children. There are so many basic mistakes, even where censuses are readily available to provide cross checking. The moral has to be that we must always go back to original sources and treat others' research with a generous pinch of salt. Brenda (Fingers crossed behind my back, in case I've made a similar mistake myself!)

Oh this is such a familiar story, I'm glad it's not just me too. LOL. When I first started I was given a lead by some kind soul for which I was so grateful. Spent the next 3 months chasing myself around in circles and just couldn't get the bits that I did know to fit. Then I found out it was the wrong line totally, it was in fact the brother of my g.grandfather not the man himself. But, alls well that ends well I finally found the right person and am now going great guns. So there's light at the end of the tunnel and all the work's not wasted cos I still have another branch to the tree. Jan :-))

Susan - I found exactly the same problem with mine. I found my 'lost' relative on IGI and got very excited only to find they had attributed the wrong parents, same names, and followed the tree back for generations, even genealogy 'experts' in Edinburgh went to that line for me, tonight I have found 'proof' that my line is correct, hard to know whether to let the other people know though. Karen

Tell me about it! I have at least four siblings, who each gave their children the same names. So five sets of each name with only the birth dates to distinguish them and I mean day and month because they all married around the same time. Then to confuse it further first cousins from the children's generation married each other! It is impossible to map even on post it notes on my hall wall! Abigail

Just thought I'd warn anyone new to this game that it is so easy to assume someone is your ancestor if they have the right name and seem to be in the right place at the right time. I was browsing the Internet yesterday and found a family tree with my 2x great grandmother on it. I got excited thinking I had found new relations but some more research this evening has shown me that whoever did the tree has probably confused two men with the same name and my 2x great grannie (wife of one of them) shouldn't be on the other person's tree. I felt a bit guilty sending the information and spoiling the tree but it must have been very easily done as the two men were close in age as well as living in the same place. So the moral of the story is....double check everything and then get as many certificates as you need to prove your theories. good luck Sue