Do we really need some of those Research Help suggestions?
And what are we supposed to do with them?
As an example, I was just looking at the page at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LB6N-NRZ. There are three suggestions there involving the possibly of there being missing children and I don't find any of them being particularly sensible.
The first questions the mother not having children after she became 33 and the second that there was a four year gap between one child and the next. There could be numerous reasons for this - husband away (at sea or elsewhere), miscarriages or stillbirths, or general fertility problems.
The third suggestion of "Couple May Have Children" obviously refers to the apparent childless relationship, but the wording on opening is, "There is evidence of the marriage but no children are listed". But there is no evidence of a marriage, just a relationship. In this example, whether or not the couple actually did marry, they (or at least the woman) were probably too old to have children by then.
Finally, as posed in my sipplementary question, what am I supposed to do with the suggestions? If I dismiss them, will that deter another researcher from looking for( the reasonable possibility of) further children? I have always argued we should make our own minds up over issues like this, so not have to make a call on issues on which we are likely to have little evidence, let alone proof.
Kindly stop being "too helpful" by providing some of these so-called "Research Helps"!
(Note - inspired by a post at https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/129967/research-help-1#latest, which I did not want to hijack with my personal rants.)
Answers
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I haven't thoroughly considered the idea to get rid of these, but I will add that I can't think of these research suggestions ever being useful. I suppose they could be helpful for a novice user? Occasionally? It would be helpful if I wasn't so OCD about clearing out all research helps.
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Those messages are prompts to look for children in historical records. I would check the attached historical records and finish attaching them. Then, if profiles of the couple are reasonably complete but no children have turned up, rather than dismiss the messages I use the Fact for this purpose. The path to it is Profile, Other Information, + Add Information, + No Children.
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Yes, I appreciate the idea behind these hints, but feel it is common sense that one would check to see if there might have been born, given such circumstances. My other main point was the incorrect wording against "Couple may have children". The statement, "There is evidence of the marriage..." is untrue. Apart from the claim in the 1871 census that Andrew and Ann are married, no marriage details have been added as none have been found.
My point stands - some of these Research Helps are useful pointers, but I don't find these examples to be of any real use.
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