Disproven Existence Notice - Abigail Kimberly-12 is not a real person. What should be done with her profile?

Question

In 1948, in an article in the NEHGR (Vol 102, page 103), Mrs. Arthur J. Trethewey, wrote that Abraham Kimberly-11 and Hannah Preston-47 had 4 children in South Carolina, Mary, Abigail, Sarah, and Abraham. In a corrections section, also Vol 102, page 315, it states: “Page 103, remove Abigail, fourth child of Abraham Kimberly. The error originated in Orcutt’s History of Stratford. The births of Mary, Sarah and Abraham, in Carolina, are entered in Stratford records, but no Abigail. These three were evidently the only surviving children of their mother Hannah, as witness the deed cited in the text. Ebenezer Blakeman [Blackman-21] married Abigail Curtis, not Kimberly.”

What should be done with this profile of Abigail Kimberly-12?

Comments

(I notice the profile manager hasn't been active since 2019...)

Answer 1

Is it possible that someone else might erroneously create the same profile if you delete it? If so, perhaps she should remain with a big red banner and an explanation in the bio.

Comments

Marion has identified the key question.  If there is no likelihood that anyone else would try to re-create Kimberly-12, then it could be merged into one of her siblings; that way, anyone trying to find Kimberly-12 would be redirected within the same family.  But if there's a decent chance someone might try to recreate the profile, perhaps because Abigail already appears in other internet genealogies, then put an explanation in the bio and submit her profile for inclusion in the Disproven Existence Project.  We don't have a "big red banner" but do have a very nice sign saying that research has demonstrated that the person never existed!

To submit the profile, post a G2G entry beginning "Disproven Existence Notice" and describe/link to Kimberly-12, and state what you've stated here.  If nobody objects in a week, Disproven Existence will take the profile over.

Since people who never existed cannot have parents, spouses or children, Abigail will be disconnected from all other profiles, so links should be part of the bio explanation.

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(Or could Kay simply edit her existing post here to say "Disproven Existence Notice - Kimberly-12" ?

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Certainly!  But the profile needs work first!

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Thanks for the suggestions. I'll work on the profile and submit it for Disproven Existence. It may be a couple of days before I have time to work on it.

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Please make any changes to her profile, as needed. I left a link to her non-parents on this profile, and on the profile of her "father" there is also a link to Kimberly-12.

Answer 2

But to me - the correction does not disprove her existence, just her survival.

Could she not have died as a baby?

Comments

Navarro, technically, you are correct because it is impossible to disprove a negative.  I cannot prove to you that the air is not full of invisible space aliens.  So we tried to find a better  alternative name for "Disproven Existence Project" but we could not.  So what disproven existence means for us is that we have looked but found no evidence that the person ever lived.  And that seems true in this case.

I've prepared the profile for adoption by Disproven Existence if nobody proves her existence within the week.