Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Gene-illogical

11 February 2013

Gene-illogical

Comments after the jump.

Harley Meadows*
B: 20 Sep 1909
D: Aug 1982

FATHER
James Meadows* (1789-1871)
MOTHER
Anny (1789-????)

SPOUSE
Polly Mary Propst* (1815-1898)
Married 7 Jun 1835

CHILDREN (all have the Meadows surname)
Amanda B: 1836
James* B: 1839
Francis Marian* B: 1843
Alonzo Whitney* B: 1847
William Jasper B: 1849
Mary Ann* B: 1851
Cordelia B: 1858

RECORDS
Attached to Polly Mary Probst
1880 U.S. Census: Meadows Family - Alexander 67, Polly 64
Attached to Harley Meadows
1920 U.S. Census: Meadows Family - John 48, Harley 10, Henry 8

*Each of these profiles has a photo, the same photo.

ⓑⓐⓡⓚⓘⓝⓖ ⓤⓟ ⓣⓗⓔ ⓦⓡⓞⓝⓖ ⓣⓡⓔⓔ

The list above includes everyone on this tree. This tree owner was probably on the right track with the 1920 Census. Then they decided tree matches were infallible and mattered more than facts. Those two census records are the only records attached to this tree. Every other "source" (using Ancestry.com's definition, not a genealogical one) is Ancestry Family Trees.
Parents born 120 years before the child. Wife born 94 years before her husband. Children born 51 to 73 years before their father. We can only hope she's happy with 11 people in her tree and has stopped clicking.
I was tempted to post the photo from this tree but since she's living I'll refrain. It's the only photo in the tree and it's of the tree owner who is in her 40s. Of course clickophiles never ignore a photo so it's attached to James M Meadows (1789-1871) in at least two other trees.
From the caption on the photo and a note on Harley's profile he is the tree owner's father. Maybe if the tree owner had entered herself in her tree she would have realized having siblings over 100 years older than her is a physical impossibility. Nah, it probably wouldn't have helped.

Thanks to Linda for the heads up about this profile ;-)

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1 comment:

TanyaMonday, 11 February, 2013
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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.

Thanks to Thomas MacEntee for allowing the use of the GeneaBloggers terms as a template.