Jacob Harmon and Anna Catherine Pauschen Harmon arrived in 1733 from Rotterdam Netherlands.

Question

My question is does WikiTree share information with FamilySearch and visa-versa? If so, how do you keep the correct information protected from FamilySearch making changes based on Ancestry files that are incorrect.

Comments

Only full members of wikitree who have signed the Honor code can edit profiles on Wikitree and they can only edit open profiles - born more than 150 years ago and/or died before 1917. Changes should be documented with authentic sources and cloned info from MyHeritage or Ancestry trees are not SOURCES .  If there is a dispute between members about what info is edited, the problem is referred to a mentor for arbitration

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Thanks for the basics, which are often neglected. I really don't like people adding to my tree without asking me first and then telling me why their changes are correctly researched.

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Cathy, would you please give us A GUIDE and a couple of examples of the following: Amateur genealogists making "changes based on Ancestry files that are incorrect."  I still am one, technically, and want to guard against mistakes, and I want to be able to assess the changes that might have already been made for damages to my tree.  How would I start to see those changes? (MY memory is not what it's normal used to be.)

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Hans Peter Harmon’s father was changed from Jacob Harmon to Samuel Henning 1693–1756 LVV8-DLN Changed his death date to May 24, 1756 but kept the correct burial date of May 1764. Kept correct parents but not the correct birth and death dates, claimed two of his children, gave him a different wife and listed Jacob as birth and alternate names.    To view this information go to   https://familysearch.org/tree/person/LVV8-DLN/details 

Then Hans Peter Harmon’s mother Anna Catherine Pauschen’s husband was changed from Jacob to Heinrich Adam Harman 1700–1767 LTQY-R8X ​ Kept the correct mother but wrong father, also wrong grandparents. Hans Peter and his siblings are now listed with correct mother wrong father. The date of the marriage is 1717. Catherine’s death listed 1764 new wife for Heinrich listed with marriage date 1723. Catherine was still married to Jacob in 1764 as she and Hans Peter Harmon are the executors of Jacob’s will.   To view this information go to   https://familysearch.org/tree/person/LTQY-R8X/details?spouse=LVG3-VLV

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Often I find merges have been made because ancestors used the same names over and over. Take a family with 8 to 10 children, often using names twice once as a middle name or initial then a first name and often calling that child by a nickname, All 8 kids grow up have 7 or so of their own, and do the same thing, naming their children after their siblings as well as aunts and uncles. They move from one state to another and a couple of neighbor families move with them. Then you have several people with same or similar names, ages and in the same area. For instance, in my line 3 siblings marry 3 siblings, Gainum Brightwell married Nancy Ann Houser, Elgin Brightwell married Mary Jane Houser and Millie Ann Brightwell married Ebenezer Houser. Example both Gainum and Elgin had sons named Josiah. Look at the dates sometimes someone adds a child to a parent after the parent passed away, the other thing is not assuming the alternate names are correct, they may be different people. Another example 1880 census Independence County Arkansas    Christian Twnsp. 

Household	Role	Sex	Age	Birthplace
William Wade	Self	M	47	United States
Elizabeth Wade	Wife	F	43	Alabama, United States
William Wade	Son	M	16	Arkansas, United States
James Wade	Son	M	14	Arkansas, United States
John Wade	Son	M	13	Arkansas, United States

1880 census Independence County Arkansas White River Twnsp                   

Household	Role	Sex	Age	Birthplace
E Wade	Self	M	40	Tennessee, United States
John M Wade	Son	M	14	Arkansas, United States
Mag Lee Wade	Daughter	F	9	Arkansas, United States

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My family has over 50 years of research with documented genealogy that has been completed and published. There are published books and online information beginning with Jacob and Catherine’s arrival in 1733 through our current day. We have a family reunion every two years that began with Hans Peter’s son Stephen. Stephen’s children and grandchildren continued the reunions as we their descendants continue today. Our family history is a large part of each reunion.  This record can be found in Colonial Records Vol. 3 page 519 and in Pennsylvania German Pioneers page 126. List of Passengers on the brigantine Richard and Elizabeth, Captain Christopher Clymer September 28, 1733… forty three Palantines with their families making in all 137 persons from Rotterdam Netherlands…. Jacob Harmon 40, his wife Catherina 33, Dewalt (Theobald) 13, Catherina 11, Barbara 8, Jacob 6, Hance (John) 3 and a half, Hans Peter 9 months. The above information can also be found in Harmon Family History in America by Stanley Harmon and in Pratt Progenitor Papers Volume 8 Jacob Hermann Harman and Descendants by Floyd Thomas Pratt F.H.C., M.A.G.I.

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Cathy Brightwell, what a lovely thing to read your focused criticisms of the unhealthy genealogical choices that hobbiest genealogists (and others?) make, might make, will make, and have made.

I'm interested in what others choose, but, alas, I too am lazy enough to make mistakes. I eventually find them and am mortified (ashamed unto DEATH) as a person who's tried earnestly to be accurate  (sigh).

Earnestness and a sense of surety when selecting a relative are surely foolish things for an alert person to rely on.

Answer 1

Your question was how do we protect from familysearch making changes.

The answer is familysearch can not make changes here. Only wikitree members can make changes.