What would you do?

Question

Dilemma!  

This situation probably applies to any number of profiles on WikiTree. For over 30 years I believed that George Prouse-102 and Alice Kenn-17 were my many times great grandparents. In the past couple of years evidences surrounding the birth of their children calls into question that possibility. It was my belief that George was the George Prowse who landed in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 on the Diana. The problem is that the baptisms for several of his children were recorded in Tiverton, Devons at the same time that he was know to have been in Virginia.

Presently, many people have taken this to be accurate. I have found other likely possible candidate George Prowses born in Tiverton that appear more likely to be George who came to Virginia in 1619. I hesitate to make any changes even though the likelihood of the current George & Alice Prowse are very likely not correct.

What should be done in situations like this? Removing them would be disruptive. Adding new possibilities would also cause confusion. I am considering adding a notation to Prouse-102 with my new information in order to spur others to do need research resolve this dilemma.

What should I/we do in these situations?

Possible alternative to George Prouse-102 is  George Prowse the son of Richard Prowse-790 and Elizabeth Chilcot-15 baptized. June 13 1604

Answer 1

Add a ==Research Notes== between the biography and sources, if the profile doesn't already have it. Start by putting appropriate notes on the page, so others can see the possible errors and possible solutions too.

Usually, if it were just somewhere in my own tree (yes, I know Wikitree is a shared tree, but many of my ancestors aren't shared with anyone else), I would separate them, make a note of why I separated them, and why I made the new connection elsewhere.

However, with this profile further back, I would put it in a G2G question, and seek a consensus, particularly from a relevant project if you can find one.

Now, you have already attached this question to the profile, so you could reword the summary of the question, to draw attention to that issue. Such as '''Help! I believe these parents are wrong and should be changed.''' Provide all the sources for both options in your question here. And add some Tags to the question. Add Prowse, and perhaps try adding Jamestown or Virginia. Try adding Gateway. Make sure you put all the sources you can, in Research Notes on the profile, so those evaluating this question, can help find the best answer. Good luck.

Just looking at the profile, perhaps add England, rather than American locations. Hopefully the England project should then help.

Comments

Thank you, Ben, for your very helpful suggestions.

Answer 2

Well if you want to add the correct information and you have the documents to back everything up, make the changes. That why we're here on wikitree to give the correct information right?

David Anthony Taylor