The Confession And Self Flaggelation Thread .....

[josey]

Hands up from me too  .

I was sure for a few years that 'my' Charles Hayter 5 x g grandfather was the 'well known' painter & writer on perspective, though thought it strange that his son Charles my 4 x great grandfather was a blacksmith [from his daughter's MC]. Then my mother's cousin gave me a photocopy of a carte de visite labelled 'Uncle John Hayter late of Jack Straw's castle'. Of course the painter's brother John would never have run a pub!! Lots of help from rootschat https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=707548.0 & long story short 'my' Hayters were fairly well to do blacksmiths & came from Windlesham Surrey. And the will of 1807 I had discounted turned out to be that of 6 x g grandfather.

[Flemming]

Not so much a person gaff as a building gaff. ‘That’s where my 2x and 3x great grandparents lived in the 1840s,’ said with great pride to anyone who would listen. Er, no, that 'nice' house was built in the 1890s. It replaced a slum.

Then there was the accidental deletion of all the family research. And then the accidental deletion of the back-up of all the family research. Razor blades were hidden. About 75% of it came back using recovery software but, as ever, a lot of the important stuff was in the lost 25%.

[Claire64]

[quote author=Flemming link=topic=808289.msg6676572#msg6676572 date=1550143479

Then there was the accidental deletion of all the family research. And then the accidental deletion of the back-up of all the family research. Razor blades were hidden. About 75% of it came back using recovery software but, as ever, a lot of the important stuff was in the lost 25%.
[/quote]

ooh I feel your pain.  My computer was doing backups on a floppy disk when it all went haywire.  I lost the large family file on the computer, which I hadn't saved earlier, and all the backups as the disk was corrupted.  Luckily I had printed it out, but to this day I still haven't inputted it into the computer.  Another lesson learnt.  I now use The Cloud which automatically backs up what I am working on, and I also have a portable hard drive, just in case!!

[coombs]

Oh yes, I have had to lop off a couple of branches and have new ones grow out of them. I (and a cousin of mine) assumed that the Francis Fradin born in 1731 in London was the same man who wed in 1759 in London due to the rare surname. I then found out that my Francis Fradin was born in 1724 in Poitou, France and was one of the last Huguenots to arrive in England. Turns out he was a relative of the 1731 one who descended from an earlier branch of the same family who came to London in the 1680s.

Namesake cousins can lead you on a merry dance, as can 2 unrelated people of the same name.

[Steve G]

It's good to talk  We shouldn't keep these calamitous cock ups clutched to  our chests. Nice to see we do have some fellow Humans around 

As it happens; I've just come back from my tree. Lost my man a wife ~ who had always been dodgy. That cost me a kid, who'd practically died at birth anyway. Boosh! Job done. Stitched a far better supported wife in and Bob's ye uncle ..... Or, is that a bad analogy to use around here? 

Anyone else feeling moved to unload? 

[Flemming]

ooh I feel your pain.

Thank you 

[pinefamily]

Yes indeed, the issue of rare or unusual names is a common one I feel. I have had a merry dance with the various Jonathan Dowdeswell's in and around London in the 18th century. I think it's sorted now (famous last words?) but there's always a chance of coming across another record that throws it all out of whack.
And as for computer glitches, yes I too feel the pain. I've lost complete research files a couple of times in years past; the worst was scanned photos that were irreplaceable. Now there is always at least one backup on hard drive. And an online tree.

[Mart 'n' Al]

Claire64, you said, "...  I lost the large family file on the computer, which I hadn't saved earlier, and all the backups as the disk was corrupted...."

I spent years of my career asking people how they knew their backups were reliable, in the days before we had networks. I used to get most pleasure out of asking CEOs and accountants!

Martin

[ozlady]

Not exactly a gaffe, more like ignoring the obvious. Spent AGES looking for great grandad's birthdate. It was on the front page of the family Bible held by my cousin. I'd even ordered a couple of possibles from GRO.......