Right names but wrong life histories
I have the parents of Nancy Ann Blackburn (1769) as William Thomas Blackburn (1727, Ireland) and Sarah Rachel Scott (1731, Pennsylvania), parents: Daniel Scott and Anna Randolph.
FS has the parents of Nancy Blackburn as William Thomas Blackburn (1730, England) LX9L-FRW and Rachel Scott (1730, Ireland), parents: Samuel Scott and Jean Hook.
These parents on FS are obviously intended to be Nancy Ann Blackburn's parents, but their life histories are completely different. It would seem that while these individuals' names are the same as mine, the family on FS has mixed persons and relationships.
Refer to attached FGR. The names of the children in my local family more closely reflect naming customs, i.e., the oldest boy is named Daniel after Sarah Rachel Scott's father, Daniel Scott. The FS family has not Daniel child, and it has child named Samuel name, who would have been named after the FS Samuel Scott.
I find it difficult to see how I could reasonably deal with the problems that exist in FS. The FS family has children from likely two different wives, but as with one wife, along with redundant children.
I am not sure how to deal with this issue. Do I go ahead and create additional FS records for Nancy Ann Blackburn's parents and siblings?
Comments
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Thanks for submitting your question. I have looked at the records in question and can see the issues you mention. I've had similar situations in my French family names where the children and parents have similar names but are from different families.
It takes time, but these things can be sorted out and corrected so everyone has the family names they should have. It's best not to create a new record if you can avoid it since that would create more duplicaton and more possibilities of merges that would mess everything up again. I usually sit down with a printout of the two families and then decide what my first step should be, logically, and then create a plan for correcting the issues before I actually do anything on the computer to avoid making more problems!
In the family you cited, I see several children that are duplicated with the same birth year but one will have "deceased" for the death and the other has an actual death date. Those could be merged. Check the parents as well and if any of them can be merged, do so.
Once all the merges are done, then go back and determine which family members are correct and which should be detached. Feel free to add any detached names to their correct families if you know it.
It can be done - it takes time and patience, but you will be doing an invaluable service if you correct these issues and add documentation to show how you arrived at the family makeup you have. Attach any supporting documents as sources; you can scan and add documents as sources even if they are not online. Just be sure to cite where you got the documents.
I hope this answers your question. Good luck!
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@Patty K R O gave you good advice on how to detangle the Family Tree. I will just add that it is important to do this work here.
A single tangle here reflect many wrong trees elsewhere, so investing the time and effort to detangle the tree here means that in future good trees will get exported to other sites, often by many, many others for years to come. That is a fine legacy. Also, doing this work develops your skills and makes you a much more efficient and effective genealogist.
To detangle the tree, my process is roughly:
- Put a Note on some key profiles that detangling is in process.
- Look for duplicates and merge them.
- Attach all sources I can find that are relevant, and examine all the source lists to detach sources that do not belong.
- Only after all the above is done do I tease apart the families. This may require some further detaching of sources from person profiles that need to be split.
- If the tangle was due to a "same names" problem, I write a note that briefly states the problem, lists the titles of the involved person profiles, and says how to tell them apart. I put this same note on all the involved profiles. Usually there are just two men, or two women, but I have detangled pairs of couples with the same names and one huge tangle of 5 men with the same name, all cousins living in the same community.
- Remove the Notes about detangling in process.
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