Barking Up the Wrong Tree

17 September 2012

My Mother, The Zombie II

The first My Mother, The Zombie post is here.
Comments after the jump.

Genevieve Lefebvre dit BOULANGER
Birth: Feb 1838, Canada
Baptism: 1834, St-Gervais, Quèbec
Marriage: 26 Oct 1851, Burlington, Vermont to John King (1828-1900)
Death: 1855, Yamachiche, Quebec, Canada

CHILDREN with John King
NAME                  BIRTH DATE
Cyprien LECLAIR             05 May 1853
Cyprien LECLAIR             05 May 1853
Cyprien LECLAIR             05 May 1853
Ellen LECLAIR 13 Nov 1856
Ellen LECLAIR 13 Nov 1856
Ellen LECLAIR 13 Nov 1856
Ellen LECLAIR 13 Nov 1856
Genevieve LECLAIR 29 Jan 1857
Genevieve LECLAIR 29 Jan 1857
Genevieve LECLAIR 29 Jan 1857
Marie Helene LECLAIR 13 Nov 1859
Marie Helene LECLAIR 13 Nov 1859
Marie Helene LECLAIR     13 Nov 1859
Celina LECLAIR 03 Jul 1861
Celina LECLAIR 03 Jul 1861
Celina LECLAIR 03 Jul 1861
Tutfield King                    abt 1862
Tutfield King                    abt 1862
Tutfield King                    abt 1862
Mary LECLAIR 04 Apr 1865
Mary LECLAIR 04 Apr 1865
Mary LECLAIR 04 Apr 1865
Philomene LECLAIR        10 Aug 1866
Philomene LECLAIR        10 Aug 1866
Philomene LECLAIR        10 Aug 1866
Henry LECLAIR       10 Jan 1868
Henry LECLAIR       10 Jan 1868
Henry LECLAIR       10 Jan 1868
Emma LECLAIR               14 Mar 1869
Emma LECLAIR               14 Mar 1869
Emma LECLAIR               14 Mar 1869
Juellie LECLAIR     28 Apr 1871
Juellie LECLAIR     28 Apr 1871
Juellie LECLAIR     28 Apr 1871
Julia LECLAIR       20 OCT 1874
Julia LECLAIR       20 OCT 1874
Julia LECLAIR       20 OCT 1874
mary leclair       1877

CHILDREN with Unknown Spouse
NAME                  BIRTH DATE
Napoleon LECLAIR            1 Jun 1858
Ellen King                             1860
Sufrone King                             1866
Emma King                             1870
Julie King                                1872
Marie Agnes LECLAIR      18 Aug 1877
Agness King                              1878

SOURCES
Quebec, Vital Church Records
    - Burial in 1855 for Genevieve Lefebvre Boulanger

3 Ancestry Member Trees
    - 2 of the trees have her married to Cyprien Leclair (1828-1886)
    - The same 2 trees have no death date for her, the 3rd has 1867.
    - The 3rd also has most of the above nonsense.

1902 Burlington (VT) Business Directory page (attached photo from another tree)

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

14 September 2012

Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.

Below are census details for records attached to one profile.

Comments after the jump.

CHARLES SWEENY

B: abt 1885, Canada

D: 3 Dec 1964, Vermont

1900

>Sweeney Family in Montpelier, VT
Charles 28 (Fr Canada), Mary 25, Charley 8, Mary 7, Jennie 5, Mabel 3, Paul 2, Robert 10/12
>Sweeny Family in Cleveland, OH
Charles S 44, Dorcas 44, Charles 15 (OH), Harold 12
>Sweeney Family in Brooklyn, NY
Charles B 53, Blanche R 46, Charles T 23 (NY)

1920

>Sweeney Family in Worcester, MA
Charles 52 (MA), Jennie L 49, Charles A 14, Eleanor G 12
>Sweeny Family in Manhattan, NY
Chas 33 (NY), Edna M 29, Charles 3
>Sweeny Family in Dover, NH
Charles 35 (NH), Mary 32

1930
>Sweeney Family in Philadelphia, PA

Charles 56 (Ireland), Mary 56, John 28, Robert 23, Herman 22, Anna 18, Thomas 15, Eugene 13
>Sweeney Family in Buffalo, NY

Charles 44, NY, Mary 45

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

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

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

07 September 2012

Coming or Going

Comments after the jump.

Relationship to NEFERTITI BIRTH DEATH

FATHER Amenhotep III Nubmaatre ABT 1425 BC ABT 1367 BC

MOTHER Gilukhipa ABT 1415 BC
SISTER Mery-Khiba Mery-Amon ABT 1560 BC

SPOUSE Moses Ben Amram 1597 BC ABT 1451 BC

CHILD Merytaten Bas Moses 1743 BC

OCCUPATION "Queen or Egypt" [sic]

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

03 September 2012

Too Many Cookes

All three profiles are from the same tree.
Comments after the jump.

Susannah Cooke (7 Dec 1693 - 21 Nov 1749)
    Father: ????
    Mother: Frances Ironmonger (1654 - 1695)

Susannah Cooke (7 Dec 1693 - 21 Nov 1749)
    Father: Mordecai Cooke (1623 - 1667)
    Mother: ????

susannah Cooke (7 Dec 1693 - 21 Nov 1749)
    Father: Mordecai Cook II (1649 - 1718)
    Mother: JOAN Constable (1458 - ????)

Warning: Sarcasm Ahead >>

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.