Source to trust- Scotland's People or FamilySearch

Question

After perusing a recent genealogy feed I started to get some more info on Thomas Fair (Fair-1357).  I had some info from Scotland's People from a relative who had the Local Parish record -Ayton, Berwickshire

Fair Thomas lawful Son to Edward Fair Hand at Peelwalls and Elizabeth Wood his Spouse was born on the 19th October 1811 and baptized by the Revd. Mr Horne.  This is in FAIR THOMAS EDWARD FAIR/ELIZABETH WOOD FR162 (FR162) M 19/10/1811 727/ 10 149 Ayton.

I then started to research the parents Edward Fair and Elizabeth Wood.  There is a match (Fair-367 and Wood-9720)  However Catherine Fair is listed as their daughter (Fair-351), citing a FamilySearch citation.  However Scotland's People has Catherine Fair, with the same birthdate, as 

FAIR

CATHERINE

JAMES FAIR/MARGARET HOME FR1682 (FR1682)

F

30/11/1813

732/

60 201

Coldingham

I've PM'd the profile manager. I assume you would trust Scotland's People over Family Search.  I don't really want to order Catherine's document as she may not be in my tree. What would be my next step?

Comments

Coldingham and Ayton are only 5 miles apart.  If not for the different parents, I'd have said they were the same person.  I think it  likely they are name-alikes, who just happen to have been christened on the same day -- or one was born on the day the other was christened.

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Edward and Elizabeth are the parents of Catharine.

James and Margaret are the parents of Catherine.

Spelling makes a HUGE difference.

Answer 1

The data for Catherine Fair-351 appears to just have the birth date off by 1 month. 

Catherine Cockburn formerly Fair

Born 30 Nov 1813 in Ayton, Scotland

Daughter of Edward Fair and Elizabeth (Wood) Fair

Her date of birth should be 30 Dec 1813, but everything else is the same. The date of birth needs correcting, not the parents: What you are suggesting is essentially profile ID recycling. Regarding her birth date, it was probably a simple error of some kind or involving conflation... the two profiles could have been accidentally merged on FamilySearch (or another site) at one point, or it could be a typo. Hard to say, but your proposed remedy is wrong. 

But the source data (which in this case says 30 Dec 1813) on FamilySearch is generally valid and trustworthy. It certainly is in this instance. 

The same is true on ScotlandsPeople: Generally valid and trustworthy, although any index may contain or propagate errors. But that isn't the problem here, as you can see:

Again, there's an error in the date entered. Not an error in the parents (unless you have other, better evidence). 

It appears that you're making some faulty assumptions. Don't be worried - everyone makes mistakes, including everyone here on WikiTree. The beauty of WikiTree is that through collaboration we have a feedback loop which can correct or undo those errors. 

Comments

There's another difference there, according to t hat image.  The one is Catharine.  The other is Catherine.

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And that's why the Catharine result didn't come up when I searched!  I had entered Catherine.  So, It looks like Thomas has a sister.  Thank-you very much!

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Glad to help, Robert. 

And kudos to Melanie for pointing out the other difference. It's an eye like that for subtle differences that makes her such an excellent genealogist. 

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As a future reference (to myself as well), when looking for Catherine/Katherine, also check for Catharine/Katharine, or use the random char search * function (*ath*rine) if the site has one.

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I guess now I have to figure out whether her name is Catherine or Catharine.  I'll order the image from Scotland People and see if I can make it out.  I rather doubt I will given the similarity- might have to trace her further.

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Spelling of names was often rather variable even then. Each priest/pastor's spelling was often phonetic and introduced a new variation. I'd suggest looking up the marriage to George Cockburn to see if any indication of her parents are given, rather than re-checking the birth registers: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XTL3-QTR

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Once you have the image, if you can't make it out, crop just that portion and ask for help.  (That small an amount, for such a purpose, should not violate SPs copyright.)

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Thanks I'll do that.  This is pretty exciting.  It's the first time I've hooked up with someone else's wikitree in my somewhat direct family tree!

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Definitely - for such a small amount I would not count it. Although, per this excellent thread by Vivian Egan , detailing her correspondence with Scotland's People regarding the copyright issue, does state that each user may upload a maximum of 20 images per site: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/917088/scotlands-people-copyright-issues

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When searching ScotlandsPeople there is a Search Options link next to both the Surname and Forename fields.  This gives you some different options to broaden the search to include other name variations.

I usually use the Name Variants radio button for both but there are other options.

Answer 2

Without looking at the actual records, the problem could be with either or both. Indexes are only as good as the indexer. My own leaning would be toward ScotlandsPeople but without being able to see either image it is hard to tell. Also, they could very well be different people which is what I would assume until proven otherwise.

Comments

In that case do I create possible duplicate parents and then request a merge at sometime in the future if they are indeed the same?  I've had similar things happen with my own surname where there were multiple John and Mary Forster's, however they usually didn't have such identical information.  I couldn't find any Catherine Fair's in Scotland's People with parents being Edward and Elizabeth.

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Don't create possible duplicates. Put what you know in a

== Research Notes ==

section for a future researcher to resolve or, obtain the documents to see if there is an error in them. Further analysis with other records may also be necessary to resolve the conflict.

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Yes I really didn't want to create a duplicate.  I have the record images for Thomas Fair's birth and will look into getting the 1841 census data that list Edward and Elizabeth Fair.  The profile manager of these people hasn't been active since 2014, not sure if he will get a message.

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If the one Catherine has parents Edward and Elizabeth, and the other has parents James and Margaret, they're not exactly duplicates.

It is very possible the record for Catherine to Edward=Elizabeth was not digitised to SP yet.  I have a rather large number of folk whose births/christenings just never show up, but they are on the census, they marry, they die.

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Looks like there are separate records for the two Cath(a/e)rine Fairs on FamilySearch:

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY2Y-QPX

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XY2R-QM4

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Once the spelling difference is applied, the records are easy to find.

I wish my folk were as easy.