snipped > > MARRIED 17 Nov 1839, to ANDERSON, Bridget, Born 19 Nov 1819 in > Whitehaven, CUL, ENG, Died 19 Aug 1876 in Whitehaven, CUL, ENG > at age 56; FATHER: ANDERSON, John > ANCESTRY: Gives only the years, but says they were married in > Cumberland, Illinois United States instead of Whitehaven, > Cumberland, England -- otherwise correct. > > > The person who compiled the tree probably made the mistake of linking the > wrong husband and father. > > But would he have mangled the place names like that? > > I suspect that that is something that the Ancestry.com software has done all > on its own, and that if you entrust Ancestry.com with your genealogy data, > something similar is likely to happen to it. I've seen a few similar cases - I don't know, but I've always suspected that the person adding the information has just clicked the first default place name without considering common sense. Someone has added my Carlisle born and bred gt gt grandmother to a London based family; I've seen others where I assume the user has added eg census returns that "might" be the ancestor, so having them in 2 places at once. I suppose that's okay if you are using it as a filing system and putting things there for later evaluation. Online family trees are fine - just don't add other people's rubbish to your own carefully researched, sourced and recorded data! (and add the occasionally scathing note to the rubbish?) Ruth