Heartland Genealogy

Have you ever looked at your genealogy and wondered, 'How did I get that?' That happened to me recently as I was researching the descendants of William Taylor Thompson of Wapello County, Iowa. William had a daughter, Julia. I had found a Wapello County, Iowa marriage record for Julia S Thompson to Edward Bates in 1868. Thus, I was following shaky leaf hints for Julia Thompson Bates. In the process, I found the Find a Grave memorial for Julia A. Thompson Bates - who died in 1922. But wait, I have Julia Thompson dying before 1887. So, where did I get the death information? And, is it correct? If so, does this mean I've mixed up two different Julia Thompsons?

Have you ever been tempted to pull someone else's family history research into your tree? I know I have. Back in the days of PAF, another RICKETTS researcher shared a gedcom with me. Knowing he was a serious worker and that the file was full of information that could help me on my RICKETTS line, I imported his gedcom file into my file. So, when someone would ask me about a RICKETTS, I would have to confess that I had copied the info into my file and really didn't know much about that particular individual. Over time, I was able to figure out how to selectively weed that RICKETTS data so that I only had families I had researched. From this first hand experience, I know how erroneous information can creep into a tree. I do use other trees - for hints and to check my research. I am currently researching my THOMPSON line. My ancestor, William Taylor Thompson, was born and married in Indiana. After his marriage, he moved to Wapello County, Iowa where he died. Hoping to see what ...