Should I Disconnect the Parents for Both Newbold-2 and Lowe-4624?

Question

Update: May have found a baptism for William Newbold, added the source to his profile. Still unsure about Mary Lowe's parents.

Hello everyone, my question is about the grandparents of [[Newbold-241 | Thomas Newbold]], and whether I should unlink them from Thomas' parents.

Thomas' parents are [[Newbold-2 | William Newbold]] and [[Lowe-4624 | Mary Lowe]], but the trouble is I couldn't find any good sources to back up William's parents or Mary's parents, more so for William Newbold.

 As for Mary Lowe I think her father could be [[Lowe-1439 | Elias Lowe]], this is based on a 1780 baptism record which states Mary's father to be "Allis Lowe", whether this is the right Mary I don't know, because her 1838 burial record states she was born around 1777, so three years before 1780, plus she married in 1797, interestingly enough Mary married on the 5th of June, the one other marriage that day has a witness named "Ellis Lowe"! So could this also support the idea that Ellis is the father of Mary? Since Ellis was at the place of marriage on that same day.

I just want opinions on whether I should disconnect the parents of William Newbold, and Mary Lowe? I'm thinking yes for William, but maybe I should just switch Mary's parents to Ellis Lowe and his wife?

Thanks in advance for any answers, this is my first time asking a question here, so hopefully I've done everything right.

Answer 1

Hi Ryan,

If I were you I would work up biographies with sources for the three profiles you are interested in and then think about changing the relationships. Sometimes a complete bio and sources will give a clearer picture. At the moment, for instance, https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lowe-1439 has no sources at all, so who knows if he is the father of anyone?

Cheers, Elizabeth

Comments

Thanks Elizabeth, I added some sources, although I'm not great at the biography section. I'm thinking I may connect Mary Lowe as the daughter of Elias Lowe eventually instead, because I can't find any reliable sources to link her to her current linked parents.

Answer 2

I've added some sources to the profile which suggest that the original place of birth and death of "Sawley" were incorrect. I have changed these. With a clearer picture of Thomas's birth, we may be able to work back with more confidence.

It looks as if the tree has been copied from someone else's research. The research may be sound, but without sources we cannot be sure. I would leave the relationships as they are, but look for sources to confirm them. Only disconnect if you find something which proves that the original research is wrong.

Comments

Thank you Stephen, I really like how you've added the census records into Thomas' biography, I wouldn't know how to do that so I may have to find out!

I did find a baptism for [[Newbold-2|William Newbold]] in 1778, now my issue is the birth dates for his parents, I can't find anything that confirms their date of birth, because his mother Elizabeth Hill was supposedly born in 1722, which there is a baptism for in Tibshelf, Derbyshire, and a marriage in 1752, but this would make her 56 years old in 1778... which obviously makes no sense. As for William's father, I can't see any way of proving his birth and parents.

I don't really want to disconnect another person's profile, but if a connection can't be proven then should I disconnect? This Newbold line specifically I have doubts about, in the way that it can't be proven with even a little bit of certainty, I will leave the connection for a little while as I'm not sure what to do with it. Thanks again!

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I use Rob Pavey's WikiTree Sourcer app: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WikiTree_Sourcer to format citations and create the census family tables - though not without checking and tweaking if necessary.

I would say don't disconnect unless you have proof that the initial information is wrong and you have a correct relative's profile to attach in substitution. If you have doubts, add a section between the Biography and the Sources headed "== Research Notes ==" (without the quotation marks), and explain your uncertainty there. You can also mark the relationship as "Uncertain" using the radio buttons.

If you do disconnect a profile, you should likewise explain in "== Research Notes ==" why you have done so. Information copied from unsourced trees might be found elsewhere on the internet, so someone else may come along and want to reverse what you have done.

Thank you for taking the trouble to research this family and ensure that what is shown on WikiTree is accurate!

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I see what you mean about the age of Elizabeth Hill. A span of 23 years between marriage and the birth of the youngest child is not unusual - if the woman was quite young at marriage. A marriage at age 33 and then many children over a span of more than 20 years looks a bit suspect. Hill is a very common name.....