How do I handle a person that never existed?
Researchers report that Hannah Flowers, daughter of Richard Flowers and Lanah Bennet, is born in Pennsylvania in 1812 and that she married on May 27, 1833 but give no source information. The researchers reporting her marriage disagree on who she married. Some say her husband’s name was Morgan Arnold and others say it was William Arnold. A Hannah Flowers married a Morgan Arnold on May 27, 1833 in Muskingum County, Ohio. Other than their marriage no other information on Hannah and Morgan has been found.Hannah does not appear in the 1820 census (under 10 years of age bracket) enumeration of Richard Flowers, when she would have been 8 years old although Richard and Lanah’s 2 year old daughter Elizabeth does appear in the census. Hannah does not appear in the1830 census (15 to 20 year old age bracket) enumeration of Richard’s widow Lanah, when she would have been 18. No one named Hannah was in the list of descendants of Richard Flowers and Lanah Bennet contained in the February 10, 1901 letter from Richard and Lanah’s grandson Silas James Flowers to William Antrim Flowers or the January 18, 1901 letter from A. O. Morgan, son of Richard and Lanah’s daughter Rebecca, to William Antrim Flowers. Researchers report that about 1834 Morgan Darnell married Hannah Flowers in Muskingum County, Ohio. According to census data both Morgan and Hannah were born in Virginia. Morgan was born in Culpepper County, Virginia in 1811 and Hannah was born in Virginia about 1814. The publication Ohio County Marriages (1789-2016) does not contain a record of the Marriage of Hannah Flowers and Morgan Darnell but does contain a record of the marriage of Hannah Flowers and Morgan Arnold in 1833. The 1860 Census records Morgan Darnell as not being able to read and write so it is possible that Morgan’s last name was recorded wrong and the name should be Morgan Darnell rather than Morgan Arnold.
The lack of information on any daughter of Richard Flowers and Lanah Bennet named Hannah and the possibility that the husband of the Hannah Flowers married on May 27, 1833 was Morgan Darnel rather than Morgan Arnold leads to questioning the existence of a daughter of Richard Flowers and Lanah Bennet named Hannah. It is possible that someone found the Muskingum County marriage of Hannah and since Richard’s widow lived in Muskingum County assumed she was the daughter of Richard and Lanah.
How do I insert something to explain that the person never existed?
Answers
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Profile K2YN-MYW for Hannah Flowers
The Data Quality Score calls out several inconsistencies and conflicts. The DQS also points out inconsistencies on the profile of the putative father, Richard Flowers, LCP2-P8Z.Hannah's profile is the result of multiple merges. If I were researching this family, I would want to examine all the evidence in each of those merges.
Richard's profile is also the result of a merge, and some conflicts need resolution - in particular, a reference to an 1860 census in the Reason statement of his 1822 death.
In other words, the issue is not just with the profile of Hannah.1 -
I would agree with the suggestion that all those merges need examining. What I'd like to add is that the conclusion "This person never existed" is likely to be wrong in the sense of it being inadequate. Rather, I suspect it's better to say that there is no evidence that a person with all these details ever existed. There is, I'd guess, every possibility that multiple people existed each with some of the characteristics that the current Hannah has.
My distinction may seem pedantic but because FS FamilyTree doesn't allow us to delete (in the normal sense of the word) anything, it's helpful to try and get our heads round the different way of thinking - that Hannah probably represents multiple people, each of whom genuinely existed.
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Agreed, @Adrian Bruce1.
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