Accuracy of records
Hello. There has been an effort for many years to validate the names of father and mother of my great-grandmother. There are hints but the family has been unable to verify. One of your members, a 'cousin' and I have communicated on this. I see where she has added the names of that father and that mother in London that we seek. I asked her for the sources of her info and she wasn't very forthcoming. I can share a 'number ID' that I found but I do not know to what it refers. I do not want to challenge her entry...but just want absolute validity of what she added. There are also other references that indicate her father's Mother is also: Elizabeth Downing. (would be our Elizabeth's grandmother and supposedly the one she immigrated to Wisconsin with).
I am Carolyn Cornie
Grandmother is Emma Caroline Hines/Hanson.
Her mother is: Elizabeth Gertrude Downing from London.
She has listed the mother's name as: Elizabeth Gertrude. (Page). Downing
and the Father as: David Downing. Only their child Elizabeth G.Hines made it to the US,. I do not have access to all the LDS search sites as does she.
Below is the message with her entry: Migrated from user-supplied source citation: urn:familysearch:source:2675381274. Her name is: Cheryl Cundick
Do you have suggestions as to how I can verify the information as posted?
Many, many thanks.
Carolyn Cornie
Best Answer
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I'm sorry, but I've had to give up here! I tried to unravel the identities of the individuals concerned, but there is just no evidence to back-up Cheryl Cundick's inputs. I am adding a few notes to show what I have / have not found:
- There was no birth recorded in the London area for an Elizabeth Gertrude Downing. There are only an Elizabeth Ada (1865 Pancras) and an Elizabeth Florence (1865 Pancras) that are "close" matches, and neither appears to have a father named David Downing.
- The only David Downing marriages in the London area were in 1849 & 1850, with another David Downing marriage at Ashton, Lancashire in 1862. In any case, there appears no evidence for her father being named David.
- I cannot identify Elizabeth in the 1871 census. The closest match in the London area is for Elizabeth (Florence) the daughter of George Downing and Emma Gill.
- Her Find A Grave biography appears correct is saying her second husband was William Harris (I have attached their 1930 census record to her profile at KC8K-HFS in Family Tree) but I have not confirmed the detail about third husband Robert Griffin and have not found the couple in the 1940 census.
I notice that her other spouses / relationships have not been added to her Family Tree page. Unfortunately, it seems some time since Cheryl Cundick added information about Elizabeth and the family, otherwise it might prove helpful to contact her. However, I hope the above might be of some help - even if only by showing there is no evidence her much that has been added here. I hope you will be able to get to the true facts.
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Answers
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Are you referring to an entry in the FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT)?
The FSFT can be edited by anyone with a FS account- that includes you. Anyone can edit anything (except for living people, only the person who created them can view and edit them) without needing to ask permission. If after discussing this issue politely with your cousin and carefully considering the evidence, you are sure she's wrong, then go ahead and remove the incorrect information. If there's some doubt, then my suggestion is to leave what she has but to add a note explaining what facts are unproven and what further research is needed. Remember to always provide sources for any assertions, to avoid future misunderstandings like what you've had with your cousin.
See this help article: https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/what-is-the-purpose-of-familysearch-and-family-tree
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Find A Grave memorials are not historical records, they are syntheses. The memorial for Elizabeth is by a Cheryl C, who may be the Family Tree contributor Cheryl Cundick.
There being no historical record basis for Elizabeth's parents, and the contributor of that information not being forthcoming, I would edit them to dial them back to what little information can be inferred from Elizabeth's own historical records. 1900 census: both parents born in England. I would enter that they both were born about 1840. I would remove his given name and her name entirely, leaving her "Mrs Downing".
Then, I would work on finding the grandmother she supposedly lived with in the United States. Also, I would fill out her profile: develop her second and third husbands' profiles.
Add her married names as Alternate Names. Very often this helps to find more records.
Also work all the many hints for her children. Currently 6 of them have hints. Use the decendancy tree view and in the options menu (little square in upper right corner) turn on Record Hints.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/descendancy/KC8K-HFS
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One more thing - I believe I did find Robert Griffin in the 1940 census (lost the page now). If so, it appears he must have married the (missing from that census) Elizabeth Harris (?) shortly after the date of the census.
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