Barking Up the Wrong Tree: Don't Know Much About History

08 November 2013

Don't Know Much About History

Title: Ferguson, John
Uploaded to: John Ferguson
Born 23 Mar 1650 in Gargunnock, Stirlingshire, ,Scotland,
Died 19 Mar 1717 in Cherry Walk, Essex, Virginia, United States,
Buried Elmwood Cemetery, Waterloo, Black Hawk, Iowa
Attached to: 65 other trees
Looking through the first 20 trees that had this photo attached 3 were private. Of the other 17 only one had a different John Ferguson who might actually be the person buried in this plot.

JNO. FERGUSON
CO. F
12TH ILL. INF.

What conflict prior to 1717 would warrant a U.S. military gravestone and an American flag?

Thanks to Kristin for the link to the gravestone photo ;-)
If you have a photo to suggest please send a link to buwtree(at)gmail(dot)com.

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4 comments:

Charlie PurvisFriday, 08 November, 2013
That is not just any U.S. military gravestone; it's a Civil War gravestone.
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UnknownFriday, 08 November, 2013
And not just a Civil War gravestone, an *Illinois* Infantry stone. Illinois didn't exist as a state until over 100 years after Mr. Ferguson's death.

Also, pretty sure there are few to zero gravestones in Iowa dating back to the early 18th century--especially in modern cemeteries like this one--but I realize that sort of deductive reasoning is asking a lot.
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PEFriday, 08 November, 2013
Especially love your use of "Queen Julie"...it is how I feel most of the time when I see these things.
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STICKLE ONSFriday, 08 November, 2013
It continues to amaze me that so many people who profess to be interested in genealogy/family history seem to have absolutely no interest in learning about the world their ancestors lived in. I'm not a snob (I hope!), and I'm not saying that everyone needs to run out and earn a Ph.D. in history (the market is glutted already!!) . . .but, if I come across a clue that tells me that my ancestor served in a particular war, or participated in a specific migration, then that's all the incentive I need to learn as much as I can about those events. That's what makes this so fun, and as Emily's comment illustrates, even a little research can pay big dividends in terms of avoiding errors.
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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

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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.

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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.

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.

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