Profiles with unproven ancestors

Question

When I joined Wikitree there was an existing profile for one of my ancestors (Bailey-13954) so I had to build off of that profile.  However, the parents (and ancestors) that are assigned to him are unproven. There are several published family files on this ancestor and they’ve been assigned at least 3 different fathers. It’s all circumstantial and speculation. I have been researching this ancestor for over 15 years and have never found proof of who his father was. I don’t like to publish family data unless I have valid sources or first-hand knowledge. I wish I could just start a profile that begins with this ancestor and build from that. Is there a solution to not having to add family to profiles with unproven data??

Comments

Thanks for asking this question. I've just discovered that the last 3 relationships at the end of my tree don't have any sources that tie them directly to my tree and I didn't know what to do. Now I see that the answer is to unlink them, which I'll do.

Answer 1

The first step would be to contact the profile manager and discuss ways to improve the profile.  If that proves unsatisfactory, is there a project that the profile falls under?  Seek assistance from others in the project.  WikiTree is intended to be collaborative.  Profile managers manage profiles but they don't own them -- all of us together in WikiTree own them.

Answer 2

You can just add a Notes section with a link to the unproven parents. You don't have to directly link your ancestor to any of the people claimed to be his father.

Comments

Notes section and a template do help:)

I'm starting to use Space pages a lot more, too.

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Thank you, Lynette. I'm kind of new to the tech part of this. You said I don't have to directly link to unproven parents. Can I unlink them? Luckily I was able to correct the profile with the right name and info for my ancestor's father, but the 3 prior generations are unproven, in fact pretty much disproven. Also, the manager created a profile for a wife (of my ancestor)  that has absolutely no sources, just a Virginia marriage record with the same name as my ancestor with no proof whatsoever that it was him. Now, he's assigned this unproven wife all over the place - copy and paste. Is there anything I can do except writing an explanation in the bio? (done that). I'm only publishing this on WT for my family, who knows nothing about genealogy, and information linked to wrong ancestors, wrong children, and wives, may be confusing for them.  Sorry for the rant, but it's frustrating.

Answer 3

That is a very good question. I found that phenomenon also on family search and ancestry. And I know that I will have the same problem very soon.

The question for me is, if I have proofen sources for one of the fathers, can I unlink the others or all and create a new fill with the father I can verify with sources.

If the profiles have no profile manage it will be easy. If not, maybe you can discuss that problem with them via PM.

Comments

Thank you. I could contact the profile manager but he/she has about 4 prior generations of profiles for this ancestor that are unproven. That might not go over too well with them. This is very discouraging because I have spent 40 years researching and gathering valid sources. I've hesitated to publish my data for many years and the only reason I joined Wikitree was because of the rules (or encouragement?) about citing valid sources. Maybe I'll create a dedicated web site and publish my research there. I'm only doing it for my family.

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1) post your information and sources as either Research Notes or comments

2) contact PM and ask to detach

3) ask for help here on G2G “Was Joe Blow te grandfather of Mary Snow?” sharing again what you know.  People are very generous in helping to resolve these mudded families.

Answer 4

You’ll also need to determine if the parents actually had a child by that name. If they did, but either it’s a different person or there’s not enough evidence to prove they are the same, you’ll want to replace the profile for the child that’s being disconnected (if you go that route). You can then research top down and bottom up, and eventually merge them if they turn out to be the same person. Of course all of this needs to be done collaboratively with the Profile Managers.