Ahhhh I'm losing my mind!

[grasswire]

Just needed to rant for a minute.

Primal scream!

I know you all have been there.

Received a family tree prepared by my great great great grandmother. In several spots, it does not mesh with what I have prepared and know to be true.


Gah!

[kdmorris]

1. Been there, done that.

I usually just go with "this is just a basis to start possibly filling in some holes". Some of them I've had to trash altogether.

My most awesome encounter was with a cousin of my grandmother who INSISTED that one of my ancestors was the son of a man who was 11 years older than he. I was like "no way" and she said "they had children younger back then" (in 1840).

I don't care what age it was. It is EXTREMELY RARE for anyone to have a child at 11 years old.

[grasswire]

2. the most significant thing that hit me...

....is that she has for her own great grandmother a woman who had no children. Turns out to be a different wife of her great grandfather. Of course she had no Internet to check her family tree work back them.

[No Vested Interest]

3. Unfortunately, we still see too many assuptions/mistakes made today,

made possible by the promotion and easy access to data on sites such as ancestry.com.

Too many who have no idea of what research entails and should be done simply copy the first census or online family tree they see, without confirming the validity by other means.

Because of early mortality in earlier days, confirmation of maternity is a necessity when researching generations unknown to us.

I try to contact - politely and pleasantly- those who've made obvious errors in my direct line, but, even then, sometimes get a little pushback, though others are grateful for the correction.
If the problem is in a line not directly connected to mine, and perhaps closer in lineage to the one who submits it, I usually fel I don't have much standing and let it go.

[pipi_k]

4. bahahahaha!!!!

"They had children younger back then"...


OMG, tell me about it!!!

I've seen family trees where people have someone being virtually his own grandfather!

[pipi_k]

5. Yep!!!

For Father's Day, Mr Pipi's girls got him one of those DIY DNA tests, which he did and then sent back.

Results were pretty much what we expected, given what we already know about his heritage. He was a bit surprised by the Scandinavian DNA, but I quite frankly, wasn't, since he's a lot Irish and Scots also. No sign of Native American or African DNA...at least, not enough that would show up.


So now I'm thinking I'd like to find out once and for all if the family tales of Native American ancestry (most recent being supposedly a M'ik Maq GGG Grandmother) are true. So I'll be saving up my pennies to buy the same kit.

[grasswire]

6. I have been trying for months to get my brother and several male cousins..

....to get themselves swabbed.

My father's side of the family emigrated to Canada durlng the revolutionary war. This is the only possibility for a Jewish or native American in my line. My great great grandmother in Canada was named Weingarden, and I can't find her father. Could be Jewish, could be German. Also, in those very very early days in Canada it would not be unusual to find a native relative.