Bray Wilkins - ancestors are speculative

Question

I recently merged into a previous profile.  It's a line that has been thoroughly researched. For the first known ancestor (Bray Wilkins 402) in his profile, the biography reads that his parentage is not known, which is consistent with all the research I've seen thus far;  however, the Wikitree ancestors for Wilkins 402 go back an additional 15 generations, which are not sourced and only speculative. What can I do? (I'm a wikitree newbie who still doesn't know how to navigate wikitree).

Comments

Send messages to the profile managers that the parents should be disconnected. Cite a reliable source for this like Anderson's Great Migration.

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Thank you!

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I took the liberty of editing the title part of your question to focus on this specific profile rather than on the question of how to proceed in the general situation. Also, I linked to the specific profile. This profile has been merged at least 5 times (probably more) and there are 10 people on the trusted list.

The profile is well supported by good sources and it's in two projects. For this kind of situation, it's best to discuss the specifics of the issue in G2G and with project participation. This G2G discussion looks like a fine place to do that.

And when a conclusion is reached, the profile should be project-protected.

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Please add PGM as a tag to this question.  Thank you.

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I already took care of retagging the question and adding a link to the profile.

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Thank you Ellen. You must have done that while I was typing out my answer.

Answer 1

Hi Jackie,

A good first step would be to contact the profile managers to see if they have a source or a reason for linking to those parents.  In this case, probably not because the biography actually says, "His parents are unknown."  However, it is always nice to extend some courtesy before unlinking profiles.  You may also want to check in with the profile managers for the linked parents to see if they know of a source for the connection.  In this case, the parents' profiles seem to be unsourced so that might not be much help either.  

In all cases, it is always a good idea to communicate with the profile manages before unlinking family members.

Answer 2

This is yet another clear case of incorrect parents attached to a PGM immigrant. Bray Wilkins has been fully researched and sourced.  He has a biography in the Great Migration, and relatively recent articles about him in The American Genealogist.  

1. Start a new G2G thread stating you are going to disconnect the incorrect parents.  Be sure to put wikitree ID Wilkins-402 in the box, so the profile managers are informed (alternatively just add the ID to this G2G question).
2. Add a comment to the profile stating the parents are incorrect, and your intention to disconnect them.
3. If there are no objections in a few days, disconnect them.

Answer 3

There's an unsourced passage in the profile that says: "Bray Wilkins, who came from Wales, Brecknock County, was a descendant of Lord John Wilkins, who belonged to a family that traced their lineage back to 1090 and had borne many honorable titles. Lord John who married sister of Oliver Cromwell." Whoever added that is probably responsible for connecting to those parents.

There have been conflicting ideas regarding policy on disconnecting parents when The Great Migration books say that a person's origins are unknown, but there's no proof that the parents are wrong. However, you can definitely mark these parents as uncertain.

Comments

Disconnect the parents and rename that passage === Fantasy===.

You can't allow such unsourced garbage to create false lines.