Collecting other people's relatives.

[polidor]

Does it ever bother you, that unless you are very,very sure that the dates and facts all tie up neatly from the census and bmd and certs etc. that you might end up with a set of relatives that aren't really yours?

I try to verify as much as i can before 'officially' adding new names to my tree but i'm finding quite a few instances where some of my family seem to be older or younger depending on which census or record i'm reading and i sometimes have a niggling doubt as to if they are truly one of 'mine' or not

Heaven forbid that i should pinch someone elses G.G.G. uncle or cousin!!!

  Poli

[meles]

No, never: I'm absolutely certain it's all right. Well, very certain... Quite certain... Got a good feeling...

I don't need people like polidor adding even more doubts to my research! 

meles

[Romilly]

Hi Poli,

Yes...it does worry me. (Especially if you're having to take a leap in the dark as it were:-)

My (paternal) Grandfather turns up on the 1901 Census for Wales, but before that its a gaping black hole:-(  A kind person on here suggested someone who looked to be a likely candidate, - & I've ordered the Certs...but I still have lingering doubts...& there's no way of totally verifying it.

Cheers, Romilly.

[SJohn]

Oh, boy. Been there. Bought the proverbial T-shirt. Three years down the drain following a mis-conception (mine) that we were related to someone famous of a similar name to my real surname (with a Norman French prefix) -  and that's why I'm taking a break!

Who thought of this genealogy lark anyway - and wait 'til I get my hands on them!

John

[Gadget]

And the further back you go, the worse it gets

Gadget

[CatOne]

Am 99% certain on all mine post 1837, but before that!! Well, its just a pure guess on half of them. For example, just because "John Smith" married in a certain place, whos to say that hes the same one that was born there at approximately the right time??!! He could have been born the other side of the country for all I know! (Most of my ancestors moved around a lot!) 

The only ones I am confidant on are the ones I can find on censuses and certificates

 

Catherine   

[linmey]

I have taken quite a few leaps in the dark. Sometimes I have gone back and erased people because I have had second thoughts or thought the link was too tenuous. I always remind myself that it only takes one illegitimate birth that wasnt acknowledged to throw the whole line out so we can never be sure of anything.
             Linda.

[Gadget]

I always keep records of all my 'wrong'uns' though, you never know when they might be handy

It's the Welsh ones who used patronyms that are the worst - shortage of first names

Gadget

[Shaztoni]

I managed to lose about a hundred years of one of my branches recently when the 1851 census for Scotland came on line.
Thing was I had some references to the right family member but still somehow managed to go off in the wrong direction.
So now I have a new twig growing in its place.
You live and learn.
 

Sharon