Hi. I am looking to get some general advice on resolving and then correcting details for some duplicate entries where the duplicates were both created by the same member.
Back in 2012 this profile manager created duplicate entries for several people. To be clear, the same person created the originals and the duplicates. The duplicate entries were:
Murdy-2 and Murdy-3 for Susan Murdy, a convict transported from Ireland to Tasmania.
Smith-31923 and Smith-31472 for her husband Joseph Smith.
Smith-31486 and Smith-31469 for their son John Smith.
O'Toole-143 and O_Toole-145 for John's wife Honora "Annie" O'Toole
Smith-31485 and Smith-31468 for a supposed daughter of John and Annie
In 2015 I contacted the profile manager to advise he had the wrong details for the husband Joseph. The profiles show him as born as transported on the Lord Auckland and born in Leith, Ireland but the record of the marriage at the Tasmanian Archives shows he was transported on the Sir George Seymour. There were two Joseph Smiths on that ship, but his age at marriage shows he was the one from Boston Lincolnshire. I posted public and private messages but got no response. I then moved on to other research.
I recently picked up this line of research again and on 13 March 2017 I suggested merges for the duplicates of Susan, Joseph and John. The profile manager accepted the merge of Murdy-2 and Murdy-3 but not the other two. I then posted sent posted public and private messages in relation to the death details he has for Susan. He records her death as occurring in 1848 and attributes her a middle names of Frances and Francis - but the Susan Frances Smith who dies in 1848 can be shown to be another woman, the wife of James Henry Burns Smith. I have not received a response to these messages as yet.
I can see from the instructions I am supposed to make a request to be on the Trusted List - I am not certain that is something I want at this stage as I do not know I am related to these people yet. I suspect Joseph Smith may be my great-great-grandfather and I am looking for genuine descendants to potentially have DNA testing.
On that final point, I am not convinced the child they have attributed to John and his wife is correct. One profile gives them 7 children, only 6 of whom can be found on the Victorian BMD and the 7th doesn't really fit date-wise. The other profile only lists that 7th child. This 7th child also appears on trees on Ancestry and I have asked the owner of the best documented Ancestry tree for more information with no response. When this person dies her parents are recorded as John Smith and Mary Ann O'Toole so that is not conclusive either way. There's not that much I can do about that, but it is disappointing that the only people I can find who claim to be descendants of John Smith may not be.
I would like to see the records for Susan, Joseph and John cleaned up. I think it would have been easier if the profile manager had not responded at all. I think it may have complicated things that he responded to one merger request but not the others.
Is it absolutely necessary to request to be on the Trusted List to at least clean up the obvious duplicates?
