There are numerous online “trees” that indicate my great-grandmother’s middle name was Ioan. It was not. It was Iona. Most of the trees list it as Ioan–one typographical error was multiplied over and over. One compiler apparently decided Ioan was a typographical error–only to “correct” it to Joan.

Just because most trees have a “fact” does not mean that fact is right. See where they got it if possible.

And if you differ with them…just make certain that you have records that are consistent with what you are stating to be true.

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3 Responses

  1. Amen! When I go into a public tree to see their sources (if they have any), it is usually another family tree! Ugh! What I have learned is that a lot of trees came into Ancestry on a Gedcom that does not have any sources attached. I feel like I am on a one woman crusade to clean up Ancestry. When I point out an error to another member, I never, ever get a response. Crickets. I just came upon this very problem, the same error in multiple trees, last night in fact. It is not rare. I tried to track down the originator tree, but could not determine it. The ONLY source on all the trees was another family tree, with the same bad information. Multiple rabbit holes, a whole rabbit clan. I have found equally bad trees on Family Search that also did not document their sources. And now, My Heritage “finds” stuff on Family Search, so it is spreading there. Some of the errors are so obvious, I don’t understand how the owner of the tree can ignore it. Anyway, I’ll keep fighting the good fight. It’s good to know I’m not so alone! Thanks.

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