Disputed wife and mother of Frank Wheatleigh (Wheatley)

Question

Wikitree currently shows that bother the mother and the wife of Frank Wheatleigh were named Mary Fiennes.  This appears to be a widespread internet rumor with a royal ancestry but no documentation.  Is there any reason not to detach both the wife and the mother of Frank Wheatleigh?

Frank had descendants in New England, and it appears that his brother Richard had descendants in Virginia.

Answer 1

John,

I'm really sticking my neck out here - or maybe it's sticking my foot in my mouth - because I know nothing about all this stuff, but ...

Does it make any difference that the wife and mother are different WikiTree profiles and have different spellings  of Fiennes and Fienes?  Or is it that those two need to be merged?

Comments

Gaile, that is actually a very good point, and I'm glad you brought it up. It appears that we have two alternative fantasy fabrications, without a shred of evidence to back them up. As far as I can tell, and I welcome evidence indicating otherwise, both lineages are what is commonly referred to as "garbage genealogy" -- they should both be quickly deleted.

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My recommendation is to annotate the "disputed relationships" rather than to delete the profiles.  The primary reason is that if we delete the profiles, someone will come in whether it is tomorrow, next week or next year and add those same individualsback  based on the overwhelming number of secondary sources that show these relationships.

Answer 2

I am not sure how possible it is to verify parentage on 16th Century profiles.  There are various peerage associations/web sites that could/should be consulted.

Considering that we don't have immediate access to 16th century expertise here, I suggest one of two approaches: (1) remove the uncertain parental connections or (2) annotate the profiles with a "disputed parent" annotation.

Answer 3

John,

Mary Fiennes, wife of Frank Wheatleigh may be a fabrication but certainly not a recent internet based rumor.  On page 14 of Genealogy of the Wheatley  or Wheatleigh Family; A History of the Family in England and America, written in 1902 by Hannibal Wheatly and available here:  https://archive.org/details/genealogyofwheat00whea

is identified as Frank's wife and "granddaughter of Lord Dacre..."

 

Comments

Thank you Bob, I'll work on adding that to the profile.  Regarding the uncertain connections, wikitree policy is to both remove connections and add a disputed parent/spouse annotation, with links to the profiles in question.  I'll be working on that, too.