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rlgleason51

conflicting origins

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How do others handle this?

 

I have a source that states one of my ancestors was born in Ireland and I duly entered that info into TMG. Today, I cam across two other sources that state the ancestor was born in England but immigrated from Ireland. I am fairly certain that the latter two source are correct.

 

I should note that all of the sources provide and validate other info, it is just this one item where they do not mesh.

 

Question: Should I remove the original info? Or should I include both? Or do something different?

 

Thanks

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Bob,

 

You should treat this data in accordance with your personal data entry standards! What do they call for when faced with conflicting information? As you know, this is a common occurrence.

 

In case you haven't established such standards, here are some considerations. First, why are you entering data into TMG?

 

Is it to collect and display all available sources? If so you may want to enter all conflicting data in separate Tags, so it's readily visible in the Details View.

 

Is it to document your conclusions about the most likely correct information about your ancestors? If so, you may want to enter the data you consider most likely to be correct, and record, either in the Memo or in Citations, how you reached that conclusions when faced with conflicts.

 

Is it to create easy-to-read narrative about your ancestors that your relatives with limited interest in family history might be willing to read? If so, you may want to hide such conflicts in the Citation Detail of your Citations. Leave the citations with conflicting information active if you think it's merited, or leave them attached but excluded if not. You might discuss only the most significant conflicts in the Memo of the appropriate tags.

 

No doubt there are other reasons users record data, which would lead to other approaches.

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I tend to be conservative so i lean towards entering data in order to, as you say, "document your conclusions about the most likely correct information about your ancestors".

 

Based on that, I shall remove said data.

 

Thanks

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As Terry has said, this is a matter of your own documentation standards. For situations like this I choose to leave the citation to various tag to this source, but take one of two actions. Generally I add a note to the CD or CM indicating my conclusion that this is not accurate. In addition I often then use the exclusion feature on these citations so they do not output, but are still there. Too often I come across the same source later and forget I already saw that information. When I go to re-enter it I find the (excluded) citations with their note which saves me from going down that same rat hole again.

 

Hope this gives you ideas,

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Bob,

 

As I said, it's your own standards that matter. I'd offer my opinion that deleting a citation to a source because you no longer believe it is accurate is not the best policy. As Michael says, you may come across it again and wonder why it's not cited. In my view it's better to exclude the source so it won't be output, but will remain so you can see it if you open the tag.

 

If it's a commonly seen source I think there is a good reason to leave the citation active and explain in the CD why you have decided it is not correct. If you don't, an informed reader will want to know why you didn't find the source.

 

However, in the end, there's no "right" way other than what you decide.

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Thanks Terry. I now have reading to do to brush up on exclusions as I have never used them, but that is my burden to bear.

 

I do have a related issue that may have the same solution: I have ancestors named James, his wife Ellen and their son Lewis. Found who I thought was them in the 1892 NY State and 1900 US Censuses (sans Lewis but still in NY). Promptly entered sources, exhibits and data into TMG. Then I found them in the 1900 US Census in Pennsylvania (still sans Lewis). Concurrent representation in both US Censuses is not possible.

 

So I now have a 1892 NY State Census, 1900 US Census for NY, and a 1900 US Census for PA for the same couple. Assuming that one of the locations (NY or PA) is correct, I assume I would remove the incorrect data once confirmation is found.

 

Or does the previous answers still hold true?

 

Thanks

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Bob,

 

Excluding a Citation is easy - just right-click on it and choose "Exclude." You will then see the exclusion mark (hyphen) in front of the source number. I sort the excluded ones to the bottom, but that's a matter of personal preference.

 

You can still see the excluded Citations in the list at the bottom of the Tag Entry screen, but they will not appear in reports (although you can make them appear if you check the "Show excluded citations" box in the report definition).

 

I'd probably keep the "wrong" census tag once you confirm it's wrong. Maybe add a note in the memo about how you know it's wrong, and exclude the Sentence so it won't show up in reports, unless you think reporting the mistaken info is useful in which case I'd let the memo print.

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A different take on the previous suggestions. I find it as important to know what data is incorrect as it is to know what data is correct; so I keep all data once entered, with some modifications. I useda modified NOTE tag, named ERROR. This tag serves multiple uses; mostly to keep track of data I have come across which I know or believe to be false; and the source from which it came.

 

Thus, I might have a BIRTH tag which gives correct birth date and location *e.g. Fred was born in 1850 in Canada.". This is immediately followed with an ERROR tag, describing (in the memo field) the incorrect data (e.g. "Fred is also reported [incorrectly] to have been born in Virginia." Both tags are sourced, so I track correct data and incorrect data, and where that data came from.

 

I sometimes include additional information in the ERROR tag; such as why I think that particular data to be incorrect; or, if there isn't sufficient information to sort out exactly which bit of data is actually correct. This has proven very useful. An example the family Bible (written by my great-grandmother) state my grand-father's brother was born in 1910. He, however, told me he was born in 1909. His BIRTH tag gives a date of "1909" with an interview of him as the source. The supporting ERROR tag state "The family Bible , presumably written by his mother, indicates he was born in 1910 [it is not entirely clear which is correct, but I use the date he has given me as it is consistent with the date of his mother's death]" with the family Bible as the source.

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An 'error' tag is a good idea, Sort dated to follow the tagged entry. Both can be excluded from reports to non-family historians but included for research reports. I don't think it's a good idea to ever delete info you have collected as you want to track why you considered that information in error. Sometimes new evidence will appear that may confirm what you formerly believed to be in error and you will want you research trail to be complete.

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