Is it not senseless to list a man's wife as Mrs. John Smith when nothing at all is known about her?

+6 votes
149 views
I have an ancestor named Sarah Jane Johnson.  Someone else made a profile page for her with her parents listed as James Johnson and Mrs. James Johnson.  Absolutely no other details are listed for this wife/mother.  I would like not to have "Mrs. James Johnson" listed as my gr-gr-gr-gr grandmother's name.
in Genealogy Help by Stormy Knight G2G Crew (340 points)
Stormy, It is like having a mother called Unknown Unknown.  It is probably a relic from a genealogy application that required a parent in order to add a brother or sister.
My preference is to simply make no entry for the spouse if unknown. If there are children, it is obvious there was someone.

Both her Proper First Name and Preferred Name should be changed to Unknown.

Her profile should also be set at Open privacy, so I put in the request to open her profile.

You should be able to update her profile in a few days, Stormy.

She can be referred to as "Mrs. James Johnson" in her biography!

3 Answers

+6 votes
 
Best answer
Another reason not to create these empty profiles ... These profiles get flagged in the Suggestions report as female with male name.  I have seen such profiles get switched to male gender and then the children have two male parents. Which creates another Suggestion. :)
by Paul Gierszewski G2G6 Mach 8 (87.9k points)
selected by Maggie N.
+5 votes
I agree. It isn't helpful to have the "Mrs. James Johnson" profile since it provides no meaningful information. I feel that the spouse should be left blank as George Fulton commented. If there was some document like a will that referred to her that way, you "might" mention that in the Biography or Research Notes section.
by Doug McCallum G2G6 Pilot (525k points)
+3 votes

Lacking good sources, but FamilySearch indicates he was married at least twice.

"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:3XZX-BF8 : accessed 29 May 2018), entry for James /Johnson/; "ScottStanford6-6-17" file (2:2:2:MM6Q-RK1), submitted 16 September 2017 by scottmichaelstanford1 [identity withheld for privacy].

"Pedigree Resource File," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:2:331Y-77X : accessed 29 May 2018), entry for James Sr /Johnson/, cites sources; file (2:2:2:MMD8-NNP), submitted 3 April 2014 by bebeanderson [identity withheld for privacy].

by Kitty Smith G2G6 Pilot (634k points)

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