Benjamin and Nathaniel Skelton didn't exist. Keep with template or merge?

Question

Anderson's Great Migration Begins, p. 1687:

"In 1939 Nora E. Snow published an account of the family of Samuel Skelton which assigned to him another wife, prior to Susanna Travis, and two sons with that wife, Benjamin and Nathaniel [Snow-Estes 2:214]. She reached this incorrect conclusion by deciding that the tentative entries for Benjamin and Nathaniel Skelton in Savage must have been real people and must have been sons of Samuel [Savage 4:103]. Savage, in turn, was misled by Felt, who included men of those names in his list of first settlers of Salem, giving the first appearance of Benjamin as being in 1639 and of Nathaniel as being in 1648 [Felt 1:170]. In both cases Felt had misread entries in the Salem church records for baptisms of children of Benjamin and Nathaniel Felton [SChR 17, 22]. Skelton Felton, a great-grandson of the Rev. Samuel Skelton, might have appreciated the humor of the situation."

So these Skelton boys didn't exist, but numerous published sources say they did. Should we...

1. Merge Benjamin Skelton-110 into Benjamin Felton-165, Nathaniel Skelton-111 into Nathaniel Felton-85, add this explanation as a research note on Samuel Skelton-105 and PPP him to prevent the sons being re-added?
2. Detach Benjamin Skelton-110 and Nathaniel Skelton-111 from Samuel Skelton-105, add {{Disproven Existence}} to each and this explanation to all three? Also PPP Samuel to prevent them being re-attached?

#1 seems cleaner given that PPP is an option but I defer to project guidance! :)

Answer 1

I'd go the Disproven Existence route. It's clean that way, and allows for the incorrect sources to be provided and leaves the profiles to be linked in the parent bio as research note fodder to avoid them being created again, and again.

I'd also alert the PM of the plan in case they don't see this post.

Comments

I agree with Bobbie. People are going to search for these names (without also looking for the supposed father), and if they don't find them they will ask or complain about their absence. Profiles with the Disproven Existence template (and discussions of the error) will save time and trouble.