Same ID Numbers for Two Different People Surnamed Ayres

Question

I was adding Charles Alexander Kelso as son of William Kelso https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Kelso-596 and Frances Ann Ayres https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayres-2192

I found that William Kelso had a wife Mary R. (Ayres) Olmstead https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayres-2192 to whom he was apparently never married.

I removed Mary as William Kelso's wife but had trouble attaching Charles Alexander Kelso to Frances as mother because of the identical ID numbers.

I have Charles Alexander Kelso with the right parents now but Frances and Mary have the same ID numbers, Ayres-2192. This question is directing only to Mary and not to Frances.

Will this go away when the connections reset?

Answer 1

Looking at the two profiles, I think the middle letters are different in the surname and profile ID: aYRes and aRYes.

Check my work - I could be mistaken!

Comments

Carol is right.

Mary is https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayres-2192.

Frances is https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ayers-2192.

---

I wonder what the probability of two related persons might have the same ID "number" for different spellings of family name? Easily higher than a million to one.

---

The probability may not be as low as one would think. This sounds similar to the Birthday Problem, though more complicated because both family name and ID number are variable.

Answer 2

Wow, Carol and Jim. I did not notice this.

Comments

This issue made me think of this ability to read what our brains think something is meant to say https://www.treehugger.com/why-your-brain-can-read-jumbled-letters-4864305