Barking Up the Wrong Tree: It's Online So It Must Be True

10 September 2012

It's Online So It Must Be True

This week I ran into someone who had Roman emperors on his tree. He invited others to look at his tree and when people pointed out a few of the numerous errors he claimed it was "all from Ancestry" and "I didn't make that stuff up." No, other people made stuff up and you mindlessly copied it.
I had initially started this post with the 900+ Nefertiti trees found while writing last Friday's post. But after this run in I decided to switch to Roman emperors instead. The point is the same: It's all online so it must be true.
So here's the profile that started this. Of course there's more after the jump ;-)

AUGUSTUS GAIUS OCTAVIUS V CAESAR Roman Emperor

B: 23 Sep 1963

D: 19 Aug 1914

Spouse: Scribonia Libo Octavian Augustus

B: 25 Jul 1968

Child: Julia Augusta

B: 39 - D: 15

Father: GAIUS IV, Praetor of Rome, Governor of Macedonia, OCTAVIUS Rufus

B: 25 JUN 85 BC - D: 27 JUL 59 BC

Mother: Atia Balba, of Rome, Caesonia

B: 85 BC - Aug-Sept 43 BC

ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ ⓣⓡⓔⓔ

Well of course Octavius was born in 1963. He marched with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Abraham Lincoln. Everyone knows that!
I did a tree search for "Augustus Gaius Octavius" (in the first name field and exact). What follows is a small sampling of the 3563 results. All of which must be true because they're online, right?

Augustus Gaius Octavius

Augustus (Gaius Octavius Caesar)
Augustus Gaius Octavius Julius Caesar Emperor of Rome
Augustus Gaius Octavius V Caesar, B: 23 Sept 1963 - D: 19 Août 1914
Emperor Gaius Octavius Augustus 1st Emperor of Rome
Emperor Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor of Rome, B: 13 Sep 1963 - 19 Aug 1914
Gaius Octavius Augustus, B: British Columbia, Canada
Gaius Octavius Augustus aka Caesar Augustus (1st EMPEROR) of ROME eponym of month August Augustus
Gaius Octavius Augustus aka Caesar Augustus Augustus, B & D in Rome, Oneida, New York, United States
Gaius Octavius (Augustus) Ceasar, B: 23 Sep 63 BC - D: 19 Aug 14 AD

Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor diRoma, B: 23 Sep 1963 - D: 18 Aug 1914
Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor of Rome Father in Law of 66th GGrandmother
Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor Rome, B: 23 Sep 1963, Kennebec, United States
Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor Rome, B: 23 Sep 1963 - D: Compania, Antofagasta, Chile
Gaius Octavius Augustus Emperor Rome, B: Canada - D: Ad, Maluku, Indonesia
Gaius Octavius = Octavian = Augustus Carsar
Gaius Octavius Thurinus Julius Caesar "Augustus" Emperor of Rome, D: BC (British Columbia)
Octavianus Augustus

SPOUSE

Atia Balbus Rome, B: 85 BC - D: 43 BC Son born 15 years before her in Poland.
Claudia Julia Livilla, D: 0031
Cornelia Cinna Di Roma, B: 0100 British Columbia, Canada
Livia Drusilla
Livia Drusilla Julia Augusta Empress of Rome Drusus, B: 58 BC - D: Jun 29 AD
Livia Drusilla Julia Augusta of Rome, B: ABT 0058 BC - D: 0029
Livia Drusilla, "Julia Augusta" Princeps Femina, Diva Augusta, B: 30 Jan 58 BC - D: 29 BC
Livia Drusilla of Rome
Marcia DIROMA
Scribonia Libo, B: 68 BC - D: 1 Jun 16
Scribonia Magna Crassi, B: abt 72 BC in Empire - D: 16 AD
Scribonia Rome, D: 16
Sribonia, D: Y (Source: 2168659.ftw) Seriously, there's a "source" attached for her death in "Y"!

PARENTS

Caius Octavious IV, "Senator" of Rome ere & ATIA Balbus of Rome ere
Caius (Senator Rome) Octavius & PRIVATE

Gaius Julius Caesar & Cornelia Cinna
Gaius Octavius Governor of Macedonia Consul of Rome & Atia Balba Secunda Caesonia Balbus
Gaius Octavius IV Roman Senator of Rome & Atia Balbus of Rome
Gaius Scribonius Curio DiRoma & Aurelia Cotta DiRoma
Quintus Anicus Faustus Rome & Dght Sextus Vibianus Rome
Sextus Cocceius Severianus I Rome & Dght Sextus Vibianus Rome His mother is also his daughter
Sextus Julius Caesar I Rome & Aurelia diRome
Sextus Julius Caesar I Rome & Ptolemy Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator Lagid
Tribune Gaius III Octavius & Ancaria Major

If you can actually trace your family back to a Roman emperor please come forward! Show us this marvelous treasure trove of history you've been keeping from the world. You will be legend in the genealogy community! Finding a line that goes back over 2000 years with sources for every generation? You will be celebrated beyond your wildest dreams. With the large number of trees that have a profile for him someone must have done the research, right? After all, people wouldn't just "make that stuff up."

UPDATE: This is not a sponsored ad. It's just perfect for this post. Thanks, David!

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5 comments:

prof. Eleonora BrukWednesday, 12 September, 2012
I just stumbled at your blog while I was looking for some genealogy tips and can't stop laughing :D I must admit I lied in my tree; my great-grandmother's sister drowned when she was five years old, but since I (still) don't have acess to her birth record, I made up her year of birth - 1888. my great-grandmother was born in 1884. I felt this was wrong in many ways, though I'm impatient because I'll get her birth/death cetificate next summer :( but that's a minor incident compared to this! I still can't believe people would trivialise their own ancestry in such a way! pifff....sad.
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earthinspaceFriday, 25 January, 2013
Was there not a river of folks going back that far who kept records? I've seen such a tree that goes back that far . . . and had no idea where they got the information . . . It was, however, running through families who surely could have such information, being vain about their past and/or bankers and such. And You know, with that many generations, a truly numerous persons _are descended from named persons. I write this not as argument, just feedback.
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KarenS.Friday, 24 January, 2014
Even if there *were* good records and evidence that people could use to trace their ancestry back that far, the multitudes are not using them. Witness the Roman Caesar Augustus born in 1963 in Kennebec, Maine; no wait, make that Chile; no, make that Canada! And he died in 1914 in New York; no wait, Indonesia!
I'd be laughing harder if it didn't get in the way of real genealogy.
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Blog Reviews

Barking has been "deemed offensive to [Ancestry.com's] brand" and is banned from their Facebook pages. In Ancestry's "Community" comments with links to Barking are censored.
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

1. Copyright: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License and is owned and administered by Loretta Gillespie.

2. Content: Barking Up the Wrong Tree is responsible for the content of this site, not including visitor comments. Barking Up the Wrong Tree reflects the personal views and opinions of Loretta Gillespie.

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.

4. Accuracy and Validity: While there are helpful pointers on Barking Up the Wrong Tree a majority of posts are intended to be humorous. The disastrous trees are copied exactly as they appear on Ancestry.com. These trees are being used to show others what NOT to do.

5. Images: Attempts are made to source images used despite the fact that the trees they are taken from do not include source information.

6. Comments: Barking Up the Wrong Tree will exercise its right to delete comments which are deemed to be spam, offensive, childish or just plain stupid.

7. Liability: The content at Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not to be taken as fact nor absolute. Barking Up the Wrong Tree contains posts that are humorous and posts that are research tips. Barking Up the Wrong Tree is not responsible for anyone who cannot tell the difference between the two. The sites that Barking Up the Wrong Tree links to via hyperlinks are not under its control. Those sites are responsible for the content of those sites. If you do not find the humor on Barking Up the Wrong Tree to your taste then stop reading. If you choose instead to send an email to the owner it may be published on Barking Up the Wrong Tree and mocked publicly.

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