Grandad's secret life . . .

[mike175]

I just discovered my grandad had a secret double life . . . according to an Ancestry online tree 

All the time I was living in the same house as him, he was secretly moonlighting in New York where he emigrated . . . apparently. Must have regularly popped across the Atlantic while I was asleep, I guess, and got back before morning 

I used to add corrections, but with the responses I had over the years I no longer bother. Any serious researcher would cross-reference and verify their data before publishing online.

I still post corrections to errors in the sources when I find them.

[Wiggy]

  .  Just show's Mike . . . . You should have slept with your eyes open to keeps eye on that Grandfather. -  not only that but he seems to have invented time travel as well.

Aren't you proud to be related to him?     


Wiggy

[bicker]

I had to have a little chuckle at your post. I have sometimes contacted people with trees online and not always had a good response! Looking at the 1939 listing I noticed that my Father, at 18 was listed as a widower!! what!! When I downloaded the records I noticed the poor writing which was transcribed incorrectly (I did have a good look first for a marriage)

Think of all those air miles your Grandad would have done if true

[clairec666]

Aaaah, the title fooled me.... I was hoping for a nice juicy story, but it's just another tale of incorrect Ancestry trees. 

Your grandfather sounds like a fascinating man - surely worthy of an episode of WDYTYA

I take the same approach as you - ignore all those trees with glaring errors, otherwise you'll spend a lifetime trying to correct them.

[Andrew Tarr]

I take the same approach as you - ignore all those trees with glaring errors, otherwise you'll spend a lifetime trying to correct them.

That about sums it up.  It's not worth trying to sort out trees which clearly have been carelessly compiled. I do sometimes contact the owner of a tree which looks very reliable except for one small but significant error.  Other than that, I look at those trees in the faint hope of finding something new (and plausible).

[groom]

I've given up even trying to correct them. According to one, my father died in America. No he didn't, I was with him when he died and I've never been to America. My grandfather also married a completely different woman according to another tree, which means that I shouldn't be here. Even though the owner of the tree agreed they'd made a mistake, they haven't changed it, so that's now up to them if they are happy to have incorrect information.

[Treetotal]

That did make me smile Mike...Apparently my Father was born In Norfolk in 1906 and was a Fisherman...err...he was born in 1916 in St. John's Nfld. and was in the navy...gives a new meaning to the phrase "a girl in every port"  The owner did correct their tree though.
Carol

[3sillydogs]

Your post did make me chuckle Mike.  You really have a first, a time travelling grandad, or perhaps he had access to supersonic flight long before the Concorde, much better than the proverbial "skeletons".

I also find it is a waste of time to try and correct mistakes on other trees, if they can't be bothered to do their research correctly and try to verify facts before adding them, then I don't think they are really serious genealogists.

[lizdb]

So, Mike, your Grandad was the REAL Santa?   !