The danger of false news.

Question

Hail.

Has anyone here ever have one of those moments where something in the back of your head tingles and gives you a headache when you see something you think is wrong on so many levels? I've been experiencing it for the last couple days. It's like a spider-sense for lack of a better phrase. I don't know how else to put it.

Let me back up a bit. I posted in the italiangenealogy.com forums asking for help finding info on an Angela Gatto. A guy who said he was a researcher said he'd help me out. I gave him the basic info. Born around 1855. He comes back to me with an Angela Gullo born in 1855. He said and I quote" The ts on the record are faded and people were often illiterate back then." Seems innocent, right? Well the thing is I have a Gullo on my tree that is my great-grandmother's mother. Her name was Domenica. That and the commune office *TOLD* me it was Gatto.

So he gives me the info and I take it to a *ahem* REAL researcher friend and she said that the name sounded like Gullo. But there's a chance he's wrong because of the Domenica factor. Something doesn't seem write to her and she drafted an e-mail for me to send.

See. Domenica married Antonio Tommaso Tedesco. Tommaso was his father and Angela was his mother. Sure it may be like "Smith" but I doubt it. There is a mess up here and something about it is setting off my spider-sense.

I have a cousin ,Angelina, who I can talk to about this since her great-grandparents were Antonio Tommaso and Domenica Gullo. Her father's into genealogy and was really excited to see the tree i made. She's also gonna take pics of the Ferraiolo graves in the cemetery.

Anyway. This normal to have a "spider-sense" about this? Has anyone else ever had a similar experience? I don't know what it is. This whole Gatto/Gullo mess seems wrong to me somehow.

I plan on writing a letter soon. I already sent one off last week via e-mail. To make things worse, the researcher gave me vague info on a couple leads which led to me posting a thread earlier about the Tedescos.

Dunno if this all makes sense. This just doesn't seem right for some reason. Anyone ever have those moments?

Answer 1

I don't call it "spidey sense" but I live my life based on that gut feeling.  And, if I'm into a family genealogy I trust that gut when something just doesn't feel right.

I also don't like the excuse, "people were illiterate back then".  That's not true.  Many spelling differences came about because 1) there were strange attempts to Anglicize a foreign name, 2) Webster hadn't written his dictionary yet so spelling wasn't standardized, you spelled it the way you spoke it.

Sure, there were uneducated people in the "old days" just like there are uneducated people today.  But, it wasn't the norm.  Even without a school, parents taught their children to read and write and do basic math.

Comments

And I would think people who used to work in the commune office were literate as they had to write all kinds of info down and preserve it for all time.

Yeah, i'm trusting my "spider-sense". So glad people aren't calling on the Spidey reference. I didn't know how else to put it.

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My memory may be off mainly because I feel like I have looked at 3,000 census records in the last 4 days,but I seem to remember more "no's" than "yes" on my families records in the column for read/write. Off to have a look at 3001.

Answer 2

Yes, absolutely, Chris! And I support you on following your intuition with regard to feeling a need to double-check facts in this case! I'm happiest when I find supporting evidence, especially when including documentation about name changes. And my ancestors have had remarkable variations in their last names, even for a simple German name such as "Wolf" or "Wulf" where here in America the death certificate shows "Wolf" and the headstone is "Wulf" and some future descendants here in America (long after immigration) go by "Wolfe" and "Wolff." So I know names can change, and see that quite often--but still support you in following your intuition when it goes off like this.

Research Notes: Have you included your thoughts in "Research Notes" for the profile(s) in question? This is my favorite way to document concerns, thoughts, questions and musings--both for myself, and for other genealogists. 

Comments

That might be a good idea.  I should note that the researcher who gave me this info also gave me details of the Gatto kids. Is it possible that he gave me Domenica's parents in the shuffle or her aunts and uncles? Keep in mind that Domenica was born around 1877. Ms Gullo here was born in 1855. He gave me kids who were born a little later.

Something does not add up. He gave me all the Gatto kids and their birth dates. Not much else.

I'm beginning to doubt this guy's research methods as the more I look at what he gave me, my head hurts. I changed the last name here. I may change it back once I get concrete info from the commune office. THEM I trust. I think the guy looked at the wrong people and gave me info that was incorrect.

I'll be happy when the mess is resolved. I may include the thoughts in the research notes. Though, I kind of want to hear from the commune office first.

The guy translated and gave me the documents. They just might be for the wrong people. Like Domenica's relatives.

Answer 3

Update: I decided to change Angela back to Gatto until further notice. I removed the parents too. I have a feeling they are connected to Domenica. So there's that. Funny thing is that as soon as I removed them and edited everything the headache went away.

Comments

Are there other Gatto documented in/near that town?  Trust your gut, and document as much as you can.     I likewise don't except the excuse about people being illiterate "back then" -- those doing the documenting certainly weren't.  However, they are also not by any means infallible.   There are many mistakes throughout the official documents.  Some are innocent, some are rather neglectful -- you can imagine a functionary who does't really care on a given day.....  others are spectacular in penmanship and detail.

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He never told me. I suspect he went straight for Gullo and assumed it was Gatto because all I gave him was Angela Gatto born circa 1855. And that's what the commune office told me. His rasoning was that the letters were faded, too. If you'd like I could e-mail you the documents he gave me.

The more eyes I have on this, the better.

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Which town?  Also - if you can link the profile in question to this G2G Q - that would be beneficial.

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San Pietro a Maida. I'm also looking for Tommaso Tedesco's parents there.

Here's the thread: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/564247/tedescos-in-san-pietro-a-maida

I want to see how all the Tedescos the guy listed link together.

And here are the profiles:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Tedesco-104 (Guy said the birth record had an error. Said his father was born in 1800. Which is incorect.)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gatto-61 That's Angela.

The reason why I doubt the last name is because of this lady:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gullo-32

That's Tommaso's daughter in law. Now, I know it may seem like Smith but it just strikes me as odd.