Self-Perpetuating Errors

I have just been looking at user-submitted trees in Ancestry.com. Before I start my criticism, I must say that I cannot blame Ancestry.com for the errors in the trees submitted to them. I subscribe to their service, myself, and find it very helpful in my research, but I have to separate the “wheat from the chaff”. I find most of the user-submitted trees are submitted without sources. They are useful for providing clues, but one still needs to find the proof in order to use the information found in the trees. Unfortunately, many researchers just copy the data into their tree without sources. They have just filled in another space.

I found a particular tree that contained the line of John Brewer of Isle of Wight, Virginia, his son, John II, and grandson, John III. John III has always been the candidate for father of George Brewer (m. Sarah Lanier) and in a large percentage of family trees, is listed as such. Marvin Broyhill in his The Brewer Families of Colonial Virginia, 1626-1776, states that there is no proof that “John III was the father of George or that he was ever married”. About ten years ago when I was publishing the newsletter, Brewer Researcher, I offered a $100 reward for anyone able to prove George’s parentage. The offer still stands and to this day I have had no takers.

The first thing of note in this tree was that John (III) had a wife, Elizabeth Rice. He lived in Virginia all of his life, but she was born in Sudberry, MA on 4 Aug 1648. They were married about 1658 in Isle of Wight,VA. She was all of 10 years old and about a thousand miles away from her home. Of course, she could have moved to Virginia, but I doubt it, since she died 25 Feb 1739 in Framingham, MA. They also had seven children, beginning in 1658 with Peter Brewer. Remember, she was just ten years old then, a real miracle in those days. Their fifth child was the George mentioned earlier. Thus, this researcher filled in two generations of his tree without any effort or proof. He did, however, place the following note in the tree: “According to Ben R. Brewer who wrote "The Long Brewer Line" published in 1993 there has not been any documentation found listing a wife or children of John Brewer, III.” Obviously, the owner of the tree did not believe this or he would not have posted such errors. I am sure that many other researchers have copied this information into their trees without ever seeing the note.

There were four sources quoted on this tree. First, another World Family Tree. Second, was a personal web site on Yahoo Geocities which has closed. Third, a web site that had no direct connection to genealogy and made no sense whatever as a source document. Fourth, was another web site that had been removed

Out of thiry-four family trees for John III, six carried through the same errors. A seventh was really far out, though. In it, his name was John R. Brewer, Sr. ,his wife’s name was Elizabeth Johnson, b. 1640, Somerset, England. Married 1655 in Somerset, England with one child, George Brewer, b. 1670 also in Somerset, but she died 1718 in Northampton, VA.

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