I have a ggg-grandfather for whom I have found competing ancestries in the genealogical literature. One line is from an older book on the family in print for many years, and the other is from articles on the same man published in more recent journals like The Virginia Genealogist and The American Genealogist. I have found discussions online of the disagreement that pretty clearly indicate that until someone does some DNA testing and publishes the results, there will be no clear answer as to which lineage is correct. I'm not counting on living long enough to find out what the answer might eventually be. I already have the older lineage entered in TMG for this man and am trying to figure out a way to enter the competing lineage so that it's clear that the basic question-just who were the ancestors of this guy, line A or line B?-is clear to someone else looking at my database. I don't want to end up with a project that seems to claim that one or the other is true, when in fact I don't know which one to prefer. I'd welcome suggestions from anyone who has confronted a similar problem. Barbara

>From this person forward in time there is little dispute, right? It's the ancestors that are being argued over? I do have the same problem in my files, a couple times. Here is what I have done First I enter the newly discovered-as-a-result-of-reading-something-authoritative (like T.A.G.) lineage for the person in question. and include an record for the person in question a second time (as if 'twere a different person). Finally I write up an Anecdote Tag, discussing all the arguments pro and con, and assign the two versions of the troublesome person as P1 and P2 so that the anecdote will follow both. I date the Anecdote Tag to be just before the birthdate so it will list first. When browsing my project, I will spot the tag right away and be reminded of the controversy. By clicking on the other person attached to the tag I can be taken immediately to the alternate lineage. When printing out reports, the tag serves to alert that there is a separate report I might wish to also print out. Karen Willard Computer Archivist for Willard Family Association One-Name Study: Willard (Williard, Willyard) On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Barbara B Reitt via <tmg@rootsweb.com> wrote: > I have a ggg-grandfather for whom I have found competing ancestries in the > genealogical literature. One line is from an older book on the family in > print for many years, and the other is from articles on the same man > published in more recent journals like The Virginia Genealogist and The > American Genealogist. I have found discussions online of the disagreement > that pretty clearly indicate that until someone does some DNA testing and > publishes the results, there will be no clear answer as to which lineage is > correct. I'm not counting on living long enough to find out what the answer > might eventually be. > > > > I already have the older lineage entered in TMG for this man and am trying > to figure out a way to enter the competing lineage so that it's clear that > the basic question-just who were the ancestors of this guy, line A or line > B?-is clear to someone else looking at my database. I don't want to end up > with a project that seems to claim that one or the other is true, when in > fact I don't know which one to prefer. > > > > I'd welcome suggestions from anyone who has confronted a similar problem. > > > > Barbara > > The TMG archive is found here: > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/TMG/ > Instructions on how to subscribe to TMG: > http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Software/TMG.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > TMG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

I would enter both lineages and mark both sets of parents as non-primary - that way I had both possible lines entered and available for research/review. I use custom research notes (non-printing) and research conclusions (printing) tags to input my therories and thoughts about the competing lineage and I specifically note in the research conclusions tag that parentage is NOT determined but may be [parents A] or [parents B] On 6/15/2015 10:54 AM, Barbara B Reitt via wrote: > I have a ggg-grandfather for whom I have found competing ancestries in the > genealogical literature. One line is from an older book on the family in > print for many years, and the other is from articles on the same man > published in more recent journals like The Virginia Genealogist and The > American Genealogist. I have found discussions online of the disagreement > that pretty clearly indicate that until someone does some DNA testing and > publishes the results, there will be no clear answer as to which lineage is > correct. I'm not counting on living long enough to find out what the answer > might eventually be. > > > > I already have the older lineage entered in TMG for this man and am trying > to figure out a way to enter the competing lineage so that it's clear that > the basic question-just who were the ancestors of this guy, line A or line > B?-is clear to someone else looking at my database. I don't want to end up > with a project that seems to claim that one or the other is true, when in > fact I don't know which one to prefer. > > > > I'd welcome suggestions from anyone who has confronted a similar problem. > > > > Barbara > > The TMG archive is found here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/TMG/ > Instructions on how to subscribe to TMG: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Software/TMG.html > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TMG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Barbara, How about, in the generation where the two lineages disagree, having no primary father but two Father-Can? (father candidates) Peace, Part of the Tree, Greg -----Original Message----- From: tmg-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:tmg-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Barbara B Reitt via Sent: Monday, June 15, 2015 10:54 AM To: TMG-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [TMG] How best to enter two competing ancestries for one person? I have a ggg-grandfather for whom I have found competing ancestries in the genealogical literature. One line is from an older book on the family in print for many years, and the other is from articles on the same man published in more recent journals like The Virginia Genealogist and The American Genealogist. I have found discussions online of the disagreement that pretty clearly indicate that until someone does some DNA testing and publishes the results, there will be no clear answer as to which lineage is correct. I'm not counting on living long enough to find out what the answer might eventually be. I already have the older lineage entered in TMG for this man and am trying to figure out a way to enter the competing lineage so that it's clear that the basic question-just who were the ancestors of this guy, line A or line B?-is clear to someone else looking at my database. I don't want to end up with a project that seems to claim that one or the other is true, when in fact I don't know which one to prefer. I'd welcome suggestions from anyone who has confronted a similar problem. Barbara The TMG archive is found here: http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/TMG/ Instructions on how to subscribe to TMG: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/index/other/Software/TMG.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to TMG-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

At 6/15/2015 10:54, you wrote: >I have a ggg-grandfather for whom I have found competing ancestries in the >genealogical literature. One line is from an older book on the family in >print for many years, and the other is from articles on the same man >published in more recent journals like The Virginia Genealogist and The >American Genealogist. I have found discussions online of the disagreement >that pretty clearly indicate that until someone does some DNA testing and >publishes the results, there will be no clear answer as to which lineage is >correct. I'm not counting on living long enough to find out what the answer >might eventually be. > >I already have the older lineage entered in TMG for this man and am trying >to figure out a way to enter the competing lineage so that it's clear that >the basic question-just who were the ancestors of this guy, line A or line >B?-is clear to someone else looking at my database. I don't want to end up >with a project that seems to claim that one or the other is true, when in >fact I don't know which one to prefer. There really is not a best way to show this. You have to "make do" in the way that suits you best. Aside from variations on a theme, there are a number of ways to treat these situations and all have obvious disadvantages. One method I have tried allows full printing of both version of information. This essentially means that all data for both line is entered. The person that is common is also entered twice except I add a SAMEPERSON Tag with no date (to allow it to sort to the top and have the ID# of the duplicate persons and the First and Second Principals. The SAMEPERSON Tag is a quick reminder of the conflicting data and allows easy navigation between lines. The Sentence for the SAMEPERSON Tag is: [P] and [PO] [M]. with a commentary in the Memo to _very_ briefly explain the conflict. Most of the information regarding the conflicting data would be contained in the citations attached to the various Tags, but there is always some added information that needs describing and this Tag Memo is as good as any. A second method is similar to the above except the common person is not duplicated. The two set of parents remain entered fully, but you arbitrarily decide which line is (for the moment) the "true" line and that set of parents is entered as the parents of the common person. The other "untrue" line parents are entered for the common person, but an Non-Primary parents. This means that both lines are easily accessible. The main disadvantage of this method is that while the "true" line (as arbitrarily selected) may be printed normally, the "untrue" line will not print until the Primary ("true") and N on-Primary ("untrue") parents are swapped allowing the printing of the other ('untrue") line. The big problem with both methods is where there is other duplication in the lines. In most cases for me, the two lines are not completely different. That is, some of the ancestors are shown in both lines. So, it comes down to doing the same things above all over again and getting things very complicated. A third method is entering the "untrue" line persons (those not duplicated) and assigning SAMEPERSON Tags as appropriate. Printing of these lines mean that swapping of connections need to be made. A Variation of this is to create a "Holding" person and attaching persons to that person so that data may be 'stored' and thus easily available. In all methods, commentary may be added to fill out your thoughts and further explain data that you find. So, it's really your choice and when its all said and done, you won't be satisfied with almost any method. I have tried all the above (with minor variations as well) and nothing suit me. I have examples of al the above sprinkled throughout my project. Maybe I'll bite the bullet and settle on one someday but until then I'll just live with it all. Lee Hoffman/KY