What do I do when someone has no sources?

Question

I've started adding my family tree to wikitree. I'm on a pair of 5th great grandparents, and they're already on here, which is great. However, their profile manager has added parents who are unconfirmed. There are no records proving that they're correct, and every blog that mentions them say that it's unconfirmed. I don't want to have the "parents" attached when there is no proof that they're correct. I've made separate pages for them for now so I can add their children and sources, should I merge them anyways or keep them separate?

Comments

You should not intentionally create duplicates for profiles already here.

Post the names of the 5ths in question and allow other members to help with research.  "Blogs" aren't always right. 

I recently proved beyond doubt, the parents of Reuben James through Delaware land records and wikitree is the only site that has that proof (until someone steals from us LOL ) All other sites had no family information for him.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/James-13308

Answer 1

G2G isn't only for vaguely hypothetical questions. We can also discuss specific genealogical questions here.

If your information about a particular ancestor conflicts with what's in their profile, and communication with the person(s) who created the profile or manage it has not resolved the conflict, start a G2G discussion about the situation. Identify the profile and describe the information sources and the conflicting information. Discussion among a larger group of WikiTreers often can resolve these kinds of conflicts.

Answer 2

I have run into the same thing.  Keep them separate until you are absolutely sure, otherwise you could end up with errors others have made in their research.

Comments

Keeping separate duplicate profiles just increases the risk of people wasting time if members are researching and sourcing both.

Answer 3

Many of the ancestors I have found come from family Bibles. These are usually most reliable, but difficult to cite as sources. Many official records have been lost, (i.e. 1800 KY census records destroyed by fire) and unsourced records are the only option.

Comments

Family Bibles are valid sources. Write a citation that [ideally] describes the Bible (whose Bible was it? when does the record start and when does it end? etc.) and indicates who possesses it now and what family informatoin is entered in it. If you possess the Bible or have an image of records in it, it would be great to upload an image here as a source. Create a free-space profile for the Bible so you can link to it from individual people's profiles.

Most of the time, of course, we don't have nearly that much information. But describe what you know about the Bible and what information comes from it.

Answer 4

WikiTree does not recommend creating duplicate profiles for any reason. Have you tried communicating with the profile manager of the questioned profiles? You should merge the profiles and add what sources you have to the final ones. You can also add a section under === Research Notes === explaining why you question the parents.

Answer 5

Hello Sierra.

"Sometimes profiles appear to be duplicates but you're not ready to merge them."

Adding unmerged matches of the profiles may help. Please se here:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Merging#Unmerged_Matches