Is anyone trying to correct the erroneous descents from famous medieval lines?

Question

When I first came to wikitree last year, I was happy to see so many well documented biographies in contrast to some other sites. Also, there were individuals who appeared to be actively and positively working hard to improve trees. However, I have seen a large number of unbelievable lines that appear to be going from a poorly documented immigrant to a very prominent family in one or two generations. There are several people I see repeatedly on profiles working hard to authenticate and improve lines, but I see many still in need of detaching relatives or marking as in need of help. Thank you for those who work so hard on this. Is there a way to mark these for people to address? I have left comments, but this does not often get a response. Thanks.

Comments

Yes, there are a number of volunteers who work hard at resolving errors and correcting bad genealogy, but progress depends on the availability of volunteers who are willing and able to the work.

I receive many more messages asking me for edits, advice, etc., than I can possibly act upon.

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To clarify my answer below, the Medieval Project works on any and all pre-1500 profiles, not just those of, as you term it, 'famous' people.  The wonderful project teams of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Germany, etc., etc. tend to oversee the more notable profiles.  The Medieval Project focuses on the ones that none of the other projects want (or for which there is no project). 

Answer 1

Hi Doug,

There is a small group (when compared to the total number) of Wikitreers that work on pre-1500 profiles.  Unfortunately, there is a massive amount of work to be done on these profiles.  It was only in the not-so-distant past that these profiles were 'protected', shall we say, to keep people from adding junk gedcoms and people from unsourced online trees.  There is a lot of work to do.  I proposed and started up the Medieval Project a couple of years ago here at Wikitree. We have this group of leaders and coordinators:

Project Leaders: Darlene Athey Hill, John Atkinson, Michael Cayley

Coordinators: Joe Cochoit, Jack Day, Andrew Lancaster

I think the main reason your comments on profiles aren't addressed is that numerous people have adopted the profiles but aren't pre-1500 certified and therefore can't edit them.  We would ask that people not adopt pre-1500 profiles unless they have pre-1500 certification.  Feel free to contact a project leader and ask to be added to the trusted list to follow edits and/or comments.

Please see this page for information on how to help with pre-1500 profiles without certification.

We appreciate the assistance of those that wish to research these profiles but don't have and/or aren't interested in obtaining pre-1500 certification.  Thank you!

Darlene - Co-Leader, Medieval Project

Comments

There are plenty of bad and dubious connections post-1500 too. In my lower Telemark genealogy, where there are very few profiles going further back than abt. 1580, I can frequently find bad connections. One of the most recent was a girl who married in Østfold county in the 1820s, who was conflated with a namesake in my area at the same age. Unfortunately, that girl died at an age of 12, and I've had to cut the connection.

The name was extremely common, like the Norwegian equivalent of Mary Brown. It's beyond me to conceive that a girl with such a common name should have travelled 200 miles away from home, across the Oslo fjord, to marry.

Yes, somebody could have done it, but more likely she was the girl next door. But that girl probably didn't have a birth record available on the Web.

Answer 2

{{Uncertain Family}} is a good sticker to use when the parents aren't certain.  

You should certainly be working with the profile manager(s).  If the managers don't respond, you could submit them as Unresponsive Managers: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Unresponsive_Profile_Managers

Answer 3

There are still a lot of over-optimistic connections from the old days, and maybe occasionally we get over-enthusiastic, but I'd say the biggest such problems are further back in time. If we talk about 1300 and later then I think we can reasonably hope to aim at a higher standard these days.

If you see such cases can you post queries or proposals on G2G? Remember to add tags such as pre-1500 and medieval.