Family stories. Watch out!

Discussion in Genealogy Forum started by Robert Burns, Apr 21, 2017
RB
Robert Burns
I was told growing up that we were related to Adalina Patti, a famous Opera star from the late 1800s.

In my research I came upon the Lupone family, namely Patti Lupone the famous broadway star. Her family told her that she was named after her Great Aunt Adalina Patti.

So as I was researching the Patti family, I came to the realization that there is no relationship to the Adelena Patti family for either of us. This is after researching every member of the Patti family.

Of course this research is still open, but as of now there is no relationship.

In conclusion, a word to the wise, take family stories with a grain of salt. Sometimes they are just that, only stories.

AS
Alan Scott
  website
Very good advice Robert. I have upset quite a few relatives by discovering that my great grandfather and mother on my fathers side were not what was thought and passed down. Included a name change from Cott to Scott when they came to NZ in 1865. My name should really be Cott. I have shown the culprit in my tree as George Cott alias Scott. Actually I like Scott better and it makes a very interesting story. (My apologies if any Cott's read this).
EB
Edward Brooke
  website
Very good advice Robert. I have upset quite a few relatives by discovering that my great grandfather and mother on my fathers side were not what was thought and passed down. Included a name change from more ...
Cott to Scott when they came to NZ in 1865. My name should really be Cott. I have shown the culprit in my tree as George Cott alias Scott. Actually I like Scott better and it makes a very interesting story. (My apologies if any Cott's read this)
My mother-in-law had a Norwegian father who married a lass from the Irish Republic. My mother in law was taken to Ireland when she was two months old and believed to the day she died that she was born in that country.

Her family returned to England in 1937 and in WWII the M-in-L was registered as an alien. As such, she had to report to a police station regularly.

My research has proved that she was born at Woolwich, London.

In spite of proving how, and when, and with whom, she travelled to and from Ireland the Irish kin are adamant, to this day, that British records must be wrong.

L
Les
  website
My mother-in-law had a Norwegian father who married a lass from the Irish Republic. My mother in law was taken to Ireland when she was two months old and believed to the day she died that she was born more ...
in that country. Her family returned to England in 1937 and in WWII the M-in-L was registered as an alien. As such, she had to report to a police station regularly. My research has proved that she was born at Woolwich, London. In spite of proving how, and when, and with whom, she travelled to and from Ireland the Irish kin are adamant, to this day, that British records must be wrong
I have noticed that quite a lot of errors , were created at the time of the Census, over the years.

That is why I have my TP tree open to all, as it is surprising, the information, that you obtain, as other than this, you just have what is gleaned from family.

Les

AS
Alan Scott
  website
I have noticed that quite a lot of errors , were created at the time of the Census, over the years. That is why I have my TP tree open to all, as it is surprising, the information, that you obtain, as more ...
other than this, you just have what is gleaned from family. Le
What are you telling us. Census data is not always accurate. With that I agree, but neither is data from family Therefor nothing is guaranteed correct. Not even Headstone data. Anyone who thinks any information is guaranteed accurate, except, more so, the better records in modern times, is a bit naïve. Even from in the 1900's there is no guarantee of accuracy. An example is my eldest brother thought my grandfathers middle name was Victor and put that name on a grave headstone whereas it was Vickers. There now for anyone to see in Billion Graves.

As we all probably know family tree's in sites such as Ancestry, Tribalpages and others, contain numerous errors. I was once in numerous public family history sites, as alive, born 10 years before my time and married to some person I had never met. It has taken me years to get most of these corrected and my name and details made private.

Don't take anything for granted. Do your own research to try to reduce errors. The error rate in all sites including the expensive sites is high and being copied continuously. That's why I say on my home page, "by all means copy information from my site but do your own research as well". There is no way I would be brave enough to say my site is 100% correct. I have checked as much as I can from Census records and while expecting these to be correct, I know, that will not always be the case.

L
Les
  website
What are you telling us. Census data is not always accurate. With that I agree, but neither is data from family Therefor nothing is guaranteed correct. Not even Headstone data. Anyone who thinks any more ...
information is guaranteed accurate, except, more so, the better records in modern times, is a bit naïve. Even from in the 1900's there is no guarantee of accuracy. An example is my eldest brother thought my grandfathers middle name was Victor and put that name on a grave headstone whereas it was Vickers. There now for anyone to see in Billion Graves. As we all probably know family tree's in sites such as Ancestry, Tribalpages and others, contain numerous errors. I was once in numerous public family history sites, as alive, born 10 years before my time and married to some person I had never met. It has taken me years to get most of these corrected and my name and details made private. Don't take anything for granted. Do your own research to try to reduce errors. The error rate in all sites including the expensive sites is high and being copied continuously. That's why I say on my home page, "by all means copy information from my site but do your own research as well". There is no way I would be brave enough to say my site is 100% correct. I have checked as much as I can from Census records and while expecting these to be correct, I know, that will not always be the case
As Robert and yourself gave an example of errors that you have found, so I gave an example of what I found. No more No less, and no more to say
AS
Alan Scott
  website
As Robert and yourself gave an example of errors that you have found, so I gave an example of what I found. No more No less, and no more to say
Don't know why you answered. I did not say you were wrong.
CB
Colin Birrell
What are you telling us. Census data is not always accurate. With that I agree, but neither is data from family Therefor nothing is guaranteed correct. Not even Headstone data. Anyone who thinks any more ...
information is guaranteed accurate, except, more so, the better records in modern times, is a bit naïve. Even from in the 1900's there is no guarantee of accuracy. An example is my eldest brother thought my grandfathers middle name was Victor and put that name on a grave headstone whereas it was Vickers. There now for anyone to see in Billion Graves. As we all probably know family tree's in sites such as Ancestry, Tribalpages and others, contain numerous errors. I was once in numerous public family history sites, as alive, born 10 years before my time and married to some person I had never met. It has taken me years to get most of these corrected and my name and details made private. Don't take anything for granted. Do your own research to try to reduce errors. The error rate in all sites including the expensive sites is high and being copied continuously. That's why I say on my home page, "by all means copy information from my site but do your own research as well". There is no way I would be brave enough to say my site is 100% correct. I have checked as much as I can from Census records and while expecting these to be correct, I know, that will not always be the case
I tend to agree with you as I am also a Member of Ancestry and while doing research you come across others searching the same name and it just drives me insane when you look at their tree and all the information is copied from other family trees on Ancestry, they just take it as gospel and do not bother to actually look the information up themselves. I have mentioned to a few people that they are wrong and have even directed them to factual information on some of the stuff that needs corrected and I will not repeat what the answer was. I have a public tree on Ancestry and most of my pictures are stolen and put up as if they put them up as their own.
AS
Alan Scott
  website
I tend to agree with you as I am also a Member of Ancestry and while doing research you come across others searching the same name and it just drives me insane when you look at their tree and all the more ...
information is copied from other family trees on Ancestry, they just take it as gospel and do not bother to actually look the information up themselves. I have mentioned to a few people that they are wrong and have even directed them to factual information on some of the stuff that needs corrected and I will not repeat what the answer was. I have a public tree on Ancestry and most of my pictures are stolen and put up as if they put them up as their own
Hi Colin,

I could not agree with you more. My Heritage is just like Ancestry. The amount of incorrect information in trees on these sites and others as well and even in Tribalpages is enormous. I could give numerous examples of situations where I have provided birth certificates to help but many don't take any notice. Comparing trees in FamilySearch is also an interesting exercise. I have used Roots Magic for that and that clearly shows that guessing is common.

When I first started researching my family history about 14 years ago I fell in the same trap myself. Experience soon fixed that. Unfortunately however, the amount of incorrect data seems to have spiraled in recent times. I am not saying that my tree is 100% correct but if I copy I now check from other sources as well. I think all we can do is encourage others to also check for themselves, before copying.

BL
Bruce Logan
Hi Colin, I could not agree with you more. My Heritage is just like Ancestry. The amount of incorrect information in trees on these sites and others as well and even in Tribalpages is enormous. I could more ...
give numerous examples of situations where I have provided birth certificates to help but many don't take any notice. Comparing trees in FamilySearch is also an interesting exercise. I have used Roots Magic for that and that clearly shows that guessing is common. When I first started researching my family history about 14 years ago I fell in the same trap myself. Experience soon fixed that. Unfortunately however, the amount of incorrect data seems to have spiraled in recent times. I am not saying that my tree is 100% correct but if I copy I now check from other sources as well. I think all we can do is encourage others to also check for themselves, before copying
Where I live the library sysyem has free access to the LDS data which is a big help since you can see the images
VJ
Vickie Clyburn Johnson
  website
This is true in most cases, but in MY CASE, it is not. I have proof from newspaper articles, death certificates, old letters and diaries. If you have written proof from that far back, you are most likely in the clear. So my grandpa's stories were true. I think anytime someone makes a claim, it is worth checking out. It might end up not being true, but sometimes....it is. :) And in my case there is both a name change and a goldmine. It's still there to this day. :)
CC
Chava Malka Cooper
yup, grew up thinking we were descendant from this 19th century rabbi. well i havent found a connection yet (now they are saying he was an uncle). the connection was that we were Rapaports from Ternopil, and he was chief rabbi there, yeah he was but only for 2 years.

the crazy thing is that my great-uncle does resemble him a lot.

IM
Ian Marr
  website
Came to this thread late, but concur with the "watch out" bit. Apart from personally witnessing something there is NO guarantee that any event, as documented, actually happened. Records do lie and many a tall tale has been placed into history via officialdom and relatives. For a male, there is NO guarantee that a particular ancestor or descendant has a biological connection to someone else. This can also be true, but less likely, for a female. My wife's grandfather is officially regarded as the son of a particular couple when in actual fact his mother is one of their other daughters - his sibling. For those familiar with the story, very much like Bobby Darrin's situation. And of course, there's the case of adopted children who are never told of their circumstances. A hundred years later, who would know?

All we can do is follow the documents and hope for the best.

Regards,

Ian Marr
Related Link:Click Here

RB
Robert Burns
Came to this thread late, but concur with the "watch out" bit. Apart from personally witnessing something there is NO guarantee that any event, as documented, actually happened. Records do lie more ...
and many a tall tale has been placed into history via officialdom and relatives. For a male, there is NO guarantee that a particular ancestor or descendant has a biological connection to someone else. This can also be true, but less likely, for a female. My wife's grandfather is officially regarded as the son of a particular couple when in actual fact his mother is one of their other daughters - his sibling. For those familiar with the story, very much like Bobby Darrin's situation. And of course, there's the case of adopted children who are never told of their circumstances. A hundred years later, who would know? All we can do is follow the documents and hope for the best. Regards, Ian Mar
This was the purpose of my post. Thanks for backing my up.