Barking Up the Wrong Tree: In Three Places at Once

28 September 2012

In Three Places at Once

Comments after the jump.

Mary Jane Madison Johnson
Born: 13 May 1836

1880 Census
(date, residence, family surname; head of household, spouse, and children)

June 7, Polk GA, Johnson; William 40, Mary J 43, Andrew J 15, Mattie 14, Lou Ella 11, Lara 9, Rosa 5

June 18, Paulding GA, Walker; William 53, Mary 46, Margaret 24, Hillyard 13, Robert G 6

June 28, Lincoln LA, Walker; Mary J 44, Wid. or Div., John R 22, Drucilla 14, Nannie L 12, Mary E 10, William M 8

ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ ⓣⓡⓔⓔ

Of course the children from all those censuses and more are listed as the children of Mary and three different spouses. One of those spouses, Lon Johnson, she supposedly married in 1855 and 1891. Those marriages are both sourced with the 1900 US Census. The census that says the couple had been married for 45 years. Yup, good source for an 1891 marriage.
Mary is in the direct line of the home person on this tree. The line goes down through her son, John Russell Walker, born 1857 in Louisiana.
Here are all of Mary's spouses and children. The names in bold are the only ones that look to be correct.

William Johnson, B: 1840
Andrew J, B: 1865
Mattie, B: 1866
Lou Ella, B: 1869
Lura, B: 1871
Rosa, B: 1875

William Wesley Walker, B: 1829
Margaret, B: 1856
John Russell, B: 1857
Priscilla, B: 1866
Hillyard, B: 1867
? L, B: 1868
Mary E, B: 1870
William M, B: 1872
Robert G, B: 1874

Lon Johnson, B: 1832
Emer I, B: 1858

No Spouse
Emer I Wall, B: 1858
Andrew J Johnson, B: 1865
Mattie Johnson, B: 1866
Lou Ella Johnson, B: 1869
Lura Johnson, B: 1871
Rosa Johnson, B: 1875

Based on the information on this tree I haven't included William Wesley in bold. The only record attached to him is the 1880 census record from Paulding, Georgia, despite the fact that he has an 1875 death date. That in turn led to Margaret, Hillyard and Robert being included wrongly. And of course Mary is listed as a widow in what seems to be the correct 1880 record.
Please don't bother yourself with looking at the details or engaging your brain. Just click away. Your ancestors are dead so what do they care.

Hat tip to Shirley for the heads up about this profile ;-)

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Dear Emma, Hannah, Jemima, Mary Jane, and all of her other personalities agree that I use "the banner of 'education' to actually mock, deride and laugh at [Ancestry's] own customers" and I "can make [my] point concerning tree inaccuracies & cock-ups and their effect on our 'hints' system without being downright unpleasant and sarcastic about it."
Allen says, “your cute little blog is a waste of bandwidth at best”
Ann thinks I'm "...copying and pasting mistakes on trees and calling it a blog" and that my readers are "mean-spirited people...who like to have a laugh at the expense of others."
Sue was really offended by the “...continual stream of sarcasm and constant poking fun...What a nasty taste in my mouth your blog left me with. Unpleasant, sarcastic and jeering at people who you obviously see as your intellectual inferiors. Won't be reading that again.”
And finally from Les, "You truly are a horrible woman, pointing out mistakes is one thing but blatantly laughing and taking the p is completely out of order."

Why?

Researching our family histories we are bound to make mistakes. Hopefully we are quick to correct them. Unfortunately some people refuse to read or think before adding information to their family trees. Some trees have been abandoned so the errors are there for eternity. Here we will laugh, mock and shake our heads at the carelessness, stupidity and/or ignorance of those errors.
All examples are taken from trees published online.
I'll also post tips occasionally, though the messed up trees are a great example of what NOT to do.
If you have an online tree to suggest for a future post please send me a link: buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com

The Fine Print

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3. Credit: Credit is not given to tree owners to protect the clueless. A tree owner who discovers their tree on this site should correct their mistakes so no one else realizes they were once a clickophile.

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