Ancestry trees

[BillyF]

I`v put this on the lighter side because it`s made me laugh and despair all at the same time.

I`ve "lost" one of my Alexander Blacks so thought I`d take a quick look at Ancestry, it`s the libarary version so maybe out of date.

However, a search for his particular Alexander brings up a tree which has the correct parents with dates, BUT there are 3 children all born the same year,1855. They are not triplets, one of them is my gt grandfather James, Alexander should have a birth date 1850 and the sister 1854.
The tree owner has married Alexander to James` wife, correct name, date and place. The rest of the tree seems also to be correct.

The search for Alexander born 1850 continues; I have him upto 1871 then he disappears. I might have a lead in USA but need to do more work on him !

[guest189040]

A significant number of Ancestry Trees are works of fiction.

Good luck finding if the arrival in USA on 19/6/1874 is your Alexander

[BillyF]

Thanks !

I have made a note of that one already, but not where I found it ! Back to the drawing board; it`s on my list to follow up.

I can`t find a death for him between 1871 and 1881, and no census entry for 1881. I can`t think of a reason why he would use an assumed name, as does his brother my gt grandfather who deserted his family.

[brigidmac]

How close are the 3 children? Maybe they were baptised together or tree owner has not found consistent records for births

I think when I post on an
Ncestry "about 1890 "or before 1920" it shows up as 1890 1920
Can anyone confirm that ?

[brigidmac]

Ps it was not unknown for a woman to marry husband's brother after husband's demise ...could that be a possibility .

People often laugh at  odd postings  on ancestry but life is strange and worth checking before dismissing

[BillyF]

This particular tree has Alexander 5th August 1855, Mary 5th August 1855 and James just 1855 all at Coldstream.

Alexander then marries Agnes Johnston 10th September 1892.

The correct version should be James born 5th August 1855 Coldstream married to Agnes Johnston as above.

Mary was born 1857 and Alexander 1850.

I only look at other people`s trees hoping to find someone who`s elusive, as is the case with this Alexander.

The problem is that this is a Scottish family who moved between Scotland and England for several years.