Dear Listers, I do agree with John. We've all muddled people up at times and hopefully disentangled them when new facts arrive, but many people on genes united either don't reply even when you know you have a match(why do they bother posting?) or have decided that a chunk of your tree will fit in nicely with their inaccurate researches. I always try to point out gently where the errors are(nobody wants to feel a fool) and have even done extra reasearch on their tree to show who the actual parents, siblings are, but frequently there is not even an acknowledgement and the mismatches show up again on hot matches.Seems anyone's relatives will do especially when from a small village with a common surname.None-the-less it is still useful especially for tracing living relatives who would be pretty impossible otherwise. Just the frustarting side of an interesting hobby. Best wishes for good breakthroughs, Mary Looking for Hendersons in the London area descended from Charles John Henderson and Margaret Wallace.

I echo Mary's sentiments about poached ancestors they turn up on many other sites too, someone has copied great chunks of my KENDALL tree on Ancestry, the only problem is my KENDALL relative he has linked his tree too, died young never married nor had children. Whilst he has copied her death and burial information into his relatives and then added all my KENDALL ancestors, his managed to give birth after her death and appear on two subsequent census returns!! Another good way of finding living relatives is Facebook. Maria

Hi all I am afraid I took all my info away from Genes reunited for this very reason. Stolen info, inaccurate copies and, most irritating, entries that appear to be me but go unanswered when I enquire. In my humble opinion, its simply not worth the bother I'm afraid. Chris --- On Tue, 27/7/10, Maria Borrill <maria.borrill@ntlworld.com> wrote: > From: Maria Borrill <maria.borrill@ntlworld.com> > Subject: Re: [MDX] mixing trees > To: middlesex_county_uk@rootsweb.com > Date: Tuesday, 27 July, 2010, 16:52 > I echo Mary's sentiments about > poached ancestors they turn up on many other > sites too, someone has copied great chunks of my KENDALL > tree on Ancestry, > the only problem is my KENDALL relative he has linked his > tree too, died > young never married nor had children. Whilst he has copied > her death and > burial information into his relatives and then added all my > KENDALL > ancestors, his managed to give birth after her death and > appear on two > subsequent census returns!! > > Another good way of finding living relatives is Facebook. > > Maria > > ************************************** > Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always > **TRIM AWAY** superfluous old messages in replies. > > List Admin can be contacted at: Middlesex_County_UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MIDDLESEX_COUNTY_UK-request@rootsweb.com > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the > subject and the body of the message >

morning List I have read with interest most of the comments re incorrect information and muddled trees but still think my story is worth telling. In my case, the muddling of information and the wrong paths my projects took makes what I have today much more interesting. Although most of the information I have gathered has turned out to be not relevant to my actual family, I am grateful for the exercise. If you have time and are interested this is my tale: It might help others tracking Alias surnames! I began in 1998, without a smidgen of info, to trace my Jerkins ancestry. 6 weeks later I had determined the origins were not USA and had found the brick wall which I stared at for 18 months. Reluctantly, I purchased my ggrandfather's marriage cert and traced the names of the witnesses (a fabulous way to go sideways if you have not thought of it.) My ggrandfather's middle name was Courtoy, most unusual..... and there was another Courtoy connection too among the witnesses.... so off I went tracing the Courtoy story, trying to identify my family's connection. I found that my grandfather's father was named as William Jerkins on records, but that he lived as William Courtoy. Why? I went off searching (for the next 20 years) to discover conspiracies, enormous fortunes, intrigues and the most amazing tales my fertile imagination could never have imagined. I used every resource available, online mailing lists, libraries, archives, purchased documents, found living people etc etc etc. Eventually I determined that my William Jerkins was probably a William Courtoy living in hiding; but was he William b 1777 or William b 1817? Census documents said he could have been either, but the younger man supposedly died on Typhus in 1838... so I had to consider what I called the empty coffin scenario. No proof, but gee wizz it all fitted perfectly, especially as I had taken the Courtoy family back to a villiage in France 1614 and learnt that the original surname was not Courtoy, but Jacquinet - which was phonetically the same as Jerkins. Oh yes, I was convinced. Not happy, but ....... I was satisfied I had it right. I even wrote the family story up, Invisible Threads was huge; I circulated it to as many as I could, even organised a mini family reunion in Adelaide, and then, just before I packed up the room and returned to the living, a Courtoy cousin in London found a bombshell. The Tasmanian Archives had digitised their records, among which he found William Jerkins, a convict who is not recorded on my convicts cd. William Jerkins went to Tasmania at the right time, he then went to Sth Aus at the right time. Reluctantly I had to concede I was intrigued. William Jerkins the convict is definately mine; he lived from the death of his defacto wife 1851 until his death 1887 as the name of her deceased brother in law - the younger William Courtoy. When he died he was registered as Courtois (Courtoy) and when he was buried it was as Coulter but the ages given at all times fit exactly with him being William Jerkins the convict. Without knowing as much as I did, I may well have missed him, or worse, the irony of it all. By going down the wrong path I learnt to think way outside the square. I uncovered the most amazing trails; I traced 9 of the 10 Courtoy children born 1806-1826 in London, all the way to the living descendants of most lines and made the most wonderful friendships. I learnt a lot about the East India Co, the records that still exist and I even researched some of the wealthiest families in England including the Earl St Vincents, as well as Jewish and French trading families who were involved in coral, coffee and diamonds. I learnt about the plight of the box makers living in poverty in London, a Combe family who were members of the coast guard, but who probably originated as brewers in Scotland. I traced families in Georgia USA, which of course introduced me to the early settlements in and around Sylvester Worth Co. Now that I actually know where my Jerkins man originated (Marylebone, Middlesex London) I am back staring at the same brickwall I met in 1999. This time however I am determined to pay for a researcher when I find what I want to extract ('if I find it' is more like it at the moment). My fingers are crossed that given time and records I may actually link the Jacquinet family of Jussey France whose descendant lived as John Courtoy in Middlesex 1750-1818 to my Jerkins family of the same area of London but I am not holding my breath. Part of my research has been the answers but the majority of it has been the puzzles and the amazing outcomes from what began as simple questions. I know I will get the truth eventually but I am no longer in a rush. I need more information to become available and if I have learnt anything it is that patience is our greatest tool. The internet and online information has improved enormously in 20 years, I envy those who will benefit from these advances in technology (and thank those who contribute it). I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers internationally and continue to be intrigued by the differences we each have in our heritage. My advice is 'if you go down the wrong path, pick up some of the info, perhaps it may actually fit in, eventually.' cheers Judy researching Jerkins family - plasterers and painters of Mddx, but who has also has a lot of info on the Courtoy / Jacquinet family of Jussey, Haute Saone, England, USA and Australia and is happy to share. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter. We are a community of 7 million users fighting spam. SPAMfighter has removed 985 of my spam emails to date. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The Professional version does not have this message

What a fantastic story, this is the reason this hobby has taken over my life ! Thanks for sharing your story. Regards, Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judy Jerkins" <bushnook@optusnet.com.au> To: <middlesex_county_uk@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 2:41 AM Subject: [MDX] I have collated wrong info,muddled info up and only regret a little bit! >If you have time and are interested this is my tale: It might help others > tracking Alias surnames! > > I began in 1998, without a smidgen of info, to trace my Jerkins ancestry. > 6 > weeks later I had determined the origins were not USA and had found the > brick wall which I stared at for 18 months. Reluctantly, I purchased my > ggrandfather's marriage cert and traced the names of the witnesses (a > fabulous way to go sideways if you have not thought of it.)

Fascinating what little travels we take during these searches. In my churnings around I found that my George William BENNETT b. 1885 Kingsland/Haggerston had married Gladys Ada KITE 1919. Gladys was born Herts 1893, father John Kite b. Dover Kent c. 1843, mother Ada Sophia b. Islington c. 1853. Marriages show Ada's surname is KITE. Hmmn, interesting - cousins perhaps? Ada turns out to be the daughter of William Hatcher Kite and Lucy Sophia EVISON as details including census show Lucy as a widow living with John & Gladys in Herts 1901 shown as mother-in-law. William Hatcher Kite in the 1861 is shown to be a woollen draper & hosier though by 1871 has 'progressed' to the Master of the Hatfield Workhouse, Herts where Lucy and 18 year old Ada Sophia obviously meet the local doctor John Kite. Romance! This is only a little side feast to my Bennett research, but certainly is fascinating. More to be done on this family. Anyone with Kite relatives? Cheers Graham Melbourne Oz