Author Topic: Finding out that you've made a mistake  (Read 6461 times)

Offline Mart 'n' Al

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Finding out that you've made a mistake
« on: Friday 17 February 17 12:48 GMT (UK) »
I wondered if anyone had any comments about finding out that you've made a mistake, and people who you thought were ancestors actually aren't.  I recently had a mistake pointed out to me, that a branch of my Great great family aren't actually related.  I'd grown quite fond of them and their adventures...

Martin

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #1 on: Friday 17 February 17 13:12 GMT (UK) »
I did that year ago with my maternal grandfather - who died before I was born!

I knew he was named Sidney Sims from Wiltshire, but didn't know his middle name.
And there were 2 Sidney Sims, born about the same timeframe, in Wiltshire.

I followed the wrong one for a few months! :-[
Garrad (Suffolk, Essex, Somerset), Crocker (Somerset), Vanstone (Devon, Jersey), Sims (Wiltshire), Bridger (Kent)

Offline groom

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #2 on: Friday 17 February 17 13:24 GMT (UK) »
I think that the thing about making a mistake is to be able to admit it. As we know from numerous threads on here, relating to mistakes on on-line trees, people are often very reluctant to acknowledge that they may have gone wrong and will carry on regardless. I'd much rather a mistake was pointed out, as long as the people doing so could show that they were correct.

I pointed out to someone that she'd given my grandfather a different middle name and married him off to the wrong woman, in a completely different part of the country. I offered to show her all the certificates etc. Her reply was that she thought it was wrong but it was the only one she could find that fitted! I notice that she still has him and his parents on her tree, but that's her loss, not mine.
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Offline andrewalston

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #3 on: Friday 17 February 17 13:32 GMT (UK) »
Quite early in my research, I followed the wrong family.

Christopher Alston married Emily Fulham in late 1891, but I had trouble finding him in the 1891 census.

However, in 1881, there was Christopher only 4 miles away, with a different occupation and his age just a couple of years out, and a father with the right name and occupation to match the marriage. Well we all know of people whose ages are variable, and a teenager can easily end up with a different trade.

I traced this family back another generation or so, then searched the 1891 census more carefully for Christopher, who was no longer living with his now-widowed mother.

And I found him, as Christopher AUSTIN, living with his widowed father, within walking distance of his future bride. Right age and occupations too.

They were the AUSTIN family in 1881 and 1871 too. I was somewhat stunned. I'm not who I thought I was!

In 1861 though, it was AUSTEAD.

So I pruned a fair slice of my tree and started growing it afresh. I now know that my surname started out as Halstead, and it changed to Alston because that is what the priest THOUGHT he heard in 1891.
Looking at ALSTON in south Ribble area, ALSTEAD and DONBAVAND/DUNBABIN etc. everywhere, HOWCROFT and MARSH in Bolton and Westhoughton, PICKERING in the Whitehaven area.

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Offline StevieSteve

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #4 on: Friday 17 February 17 13:39 GMT (UK) »
I've always read it as Walston, Andre!
Middlesex: KING,  MUMFORD, COOK, ROUSE, GOODALL, BROWN
Oxford: MATTHEWS, MOSS
Kent: SPOONER, THOMAS, KILLICK, COLLINS
Cambs: PRIGG, LEACH
Hants: FOSTER
Montgomery: BREES
Surrey: REEVE

Offline Deirdre784

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #5 on: Friday 17 February 17 13:47 GMT (UK) »
I misread 'shoer' for 'grocer'  ::) on a parish marriage record and happily traced back several generations of the grocer before realising it was wrong. Was quite sad as I'd found the grocer's house still in existence, but have altered my husband's tree  :)
CARDIFF:Lord,Griffiths,Barry,Cope,Mahoney ~ PEMBROKESHIRE:Griffiths,Rees,Owen,Thomas ~ ESSEX:Lord,Foreman,Hatch ~ SOMERSET:Lord,Cox,Hockey,Linham,Bryant ~ STAFFORDSHIRE:Cope,Elks,Hackney,Gallimore,Davenport ~ SUFFOLK:Lord,Lockwood,Hatch,Rix,Foreman ~ IRELAND:Barry,Meany,Cummins,Grogan ~
PONTYPRIDD:Leigh,Brooks,Adams,Davies,Thomas ~ KENT:Leigh ~ CHESHIRE:Adams,Tudor,Illidge ~ DENBIGHSHIRE:Edwards,Bolas ~BRECON:Leigh,Thomas,Davies ~SOMERSET:Adams,Keitch,Bridge ~ABERGAVENNY:Minton ~ MERTHYR:.....

Offline LizzieW

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #6 on: Friday 17 February 17 14:18 GMT (UK) »
Many years ago I was following what I thought was my g.gran and her children.  Names and ages fitted, it wasn't until someone pointed out to me that I was following the wrong family who lived in Norfolk and the correct family lived in Suffolk.

Offline Nick_Ips

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #7 on: Friday 17 February 17 14:51 GMT (UK) »

If you've enjoyed researching them you haven't really lost anything Martin... if anything you've now gained the opportunity to research a whole new line.

I have several 'fond of' lines which I've followed, even though I have no proof that they are related to me.

Also, don't throw away what you have done - unless they are wildly unrelated then you never know if maybe there is a connection albeit different to the one you thought.

Part of my research is in a small area of Norfolk. Yesterday I found a marriage which 'promoted' to first cousin status someone I'd added 15 years ago just for interest (linked only by a complex series of marriages and sibling relationships).

So always consider if a 'mistake' is just someone who is mislocated  ;D

Offline ThrelfallYorky

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Re: Finding out that you've made a mistake
« Reply #8 on: Friday 17 February 17 14:56 GMT (UK) »
I've started off to do that once or twice - in part, that was why I started tracing all the possible lines I could find both backwards and forwards until I was completely certain - and with an unusual surname, that's meant that from time to time I've been able to provide a bit more easily accessible help to others hunting families with the same surname.
So don't regard it as waste - file it somewhere, either on paper as I do, where it can be retrieved fairly easily, or in an online tree that may help someone else. It's not a mistake - it's "wider research and elimination", isn't it?
Threlfall (Southport), Isherwood (lancs & Canada), Newbould + Topliss(Derby), Keating & Cummins (Ireland + lancs), Fisher, Strong& Casson (all Cumberland) & Downie & Bowie, Linlithgow area Scotland . Also interested in Leigh& Burrows,(Lancashire) Griffiths (Shropshire & lancs), Leaver (Lancs/Yorks) & Anderson(Cumberland and very elusive)