WikiTree – Connie Davis

May 6, 2025May 6, 2025

How Misinformation Can Be Spread via Ancestry Trees

When I was a new family historian, I made a mistake on my Ancestry tree. My 2x-great grandmother was a woman named Mattie, who married my 2x great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Pike. I knew she later married William T. Adams. My mother knew and had heard about her great-grandfather, Malcolm Argul Pike and knew he had a step-father and half-siblings. Records for Mattie indicated her maiden name was Childress or Childers. The informants on these records would have been her grandson (on Malcolm’s death certificate) or her son Claude Adams (on his Social Security Application). When searching for the marriage of Mattie to A.J. Pike, I found the following record in Tipton County, Tennessee, the birthplace of Malcom Pike.

Marriage License for A.J. Pike and Mattie Fisher, 1878

I was thrilled to have this record because maiden names are typically used in marriage records, and she was almost certainly the informant on her own marriage certificate, so I believed her maiden name was actually Fisher. I added the record to my Ancestry tree and gave her the birth surname of Fisher. I could not find a Mattie Fisher prior to her marriage who fit Mattie’s calculated death date or possible birth states. That should have been a clue.

Less than a year later, when I learned more about thoroughly exhaustive research and how to resolve conflicting evidence, I realized I had never looked for a marriage of Mattie prior to her marriage to A.J. Pike. And that’s when I found this, also in Tipton County:

Marriage license of James Fisher to Mattie Childres in 1877.

I reviewed the timelines of the likely first marriage of Mattie to James Fisher with the marriage to A.J. Pike (they were 9 months apart) and searched for a death record for James. To date, none has been found. To rule out a marriage prior to Mattie before James Fisher, I looked for a married Mattie Childres in the years she would have been old enough to marry and found none. I looked for Mattie Childres in different Childress families in the south and created a long list that I am still working through. I turned up additional conflicting evidence. Another son of Mattie, Ben Adams, said her maiden name was Pike when he applied for a Social Security Card. I looked of birth records for her children (none, they weren’t required in Tennessee at that time and no delayed records have been located). I haven’t been able to find her daughter Luella (Adams) Moss after 1910 or her son Wallace Adams after 1900. I did start to find DNA matches that linked her to the Childres surname and some possible families for her prior to her first marriage, and some matches that fit as descendants of Mattie with no evidence of her in their trees. (It’s possible they descend from Luella. As of this time, none of the Adams men were known to have had families, but that can’t be ruled out.) Mattie became (and still is) my most recent brick wall.

It was appalling to learn how quickly the misinformation I had posted on my Ancestry tree spread. After I discovered my error, I wrote to 14 people on Ancestry who had copied my erroneous information. Only one responded and she was grateful. See below.

Message in Ancestry Messaging System thanking me for letting them know about the correction

At the current time, there are 17 trees on Ancestry that have Mattie with the maiden name of Fisher in their trees. It’s humbling to know that the information is there because of my lack of good research standards.

What do I do to avoid spreading misinformation now?

Follow genealogy standards while doing my research. Reasonably exhaustive research and resolution of conflicting information would have prevented this.
Avoid sharing information publicly before I am more certain. The difficulty with that approach is that certainty is highly variable when researching mysterious people like Mattie!
Share my information on WikiTree. WikiTree acknowledges that profiles are works-in-progress and allows for a more nuanced presentation of information. When I create WikiTree profiles I can use language to describe how sure I am of the research. I can say her maiden name is “likely” Childres or “almost certainly” Childres when I am more sure. I can write a proof argument and attach a PDF to her WikiTree profile if I want to. (See this WikiTree page for my ongoing efforts to disambiguate three men named James Stoker in Kentucky.) I’m still bothered by the stricken out Smith on one of Mattie’s records. Was that just a clerical copying error? Or did Mattie mention the name Smith when she was applying for a marriage license with A.J. Pike? I do have a cluster of Smiths in the Childres genetic network…
Keep Ancestry trees private. Unfortunately this does not prevent Ancestry from using the information in a ThruLines hint. And ThruLines sadly tells me that Mattie’s father is someone named J.E. Fisher born in 1820. The error continues to compound!
Name my Ancestry tree as a “Working Tree” to let people know it is a work-in-progress. All genealogy is a work-in-progress, but it’s hard to make that clear when trees can be so freely copied without analysis.

And I remember when I am looking at other people’s trees that I need to verify the information myself. And be kind when there are mistakes. After all, I’ve made them, too.

March 15, 2025March 7, 2026

WikiTree Has a New Look!

Over the past year, a team of paid consultants and volunteer developers at WikiTree created an updated look for WikiTree. WikiTree, the free, one-world tree, is the place I share my best genealogical research. Check out my profile to see how active I am on WikiTree. I joined in 2017 and since then I have edited hundreds of profiles, created Free Space Pages, and I manage over 350 profiles. I’ve used the old system and the new one to edit and create profiles and Free Space Pages. I’m very familiar with WikiTree, including its strengths and shortcomings.

WikiTree is a publicly available website and far more likely to outlast me than any other place my research resides. WikiTree is not known for flash. After all, without income from memberships (WikiTree is financed by unobtrusive ads that are only shown to non-members or members who are not logged in), WikiTree lacks the budget power of Ancestry, MyHeritage, or software companies. They have done an amazing job with the redesign.

Let’s take a look at some of the updates on the profile of Arthur Hilton. I’m his two-times-great grand-niece. He died young, and he’s one of the people I honour at WikiTree.

The overall look is cleaner and better organized. The huge grey border (a total waste of space) is gone and there’s a better balance between the two columns. The larger font is easier to read and the use of colour makes sense. See that blue box? It’s a visual cue that I’m looking at the profile of a biological male. The hypertext is green and links you have clicked are purple.

The area for the WikiTree ID and dropdown menus has been streamlined and cleaned up. The menus are more visible with the larger font and the menus themselves contain less clutter. (The menus are not shown here! Click on one and check them out!)

The visibility of useful copyable text options is perfect! In the old version, they were almost invisible in tiny green font. They are now clearly marked with a new copy icon, familiar from other websites. I use these links when sharing profiles in emails, adding links within profiles, and in my research logs. And if you like to cite WikiTree, you can do that here with one click.

Like all good websites, there’s usually more than one way to navigate. This menu in grey background is a redesigned tab menu. It uses icons and text to move commonly used features and actions together. The more experienced WikiTree user wants to access profiles and features quickly without scrolling, and here they are. I’m referring to this as the “Quick Menu.” Well done, design team! I love the simple navigation arrows and ability to jump to the part of the profile I want to see, (including the ancestors and descendants tabs), the “edit” pencil, the profile change history icon, familiar privacy icon (padlock), and the new Tree apps icon.

Information that was small and difficult to parse is now separated with better placement in the profile. Key details (birth and death with locations and certainty indicators) now appears immediately below the larger, improved name block. Relationship information is in the shaded block, blue for Arthur, a biological male.

Finding the profile manager is also easier.

The new profile manager section

The profile manager formerly appeared in small font in the crowded area on the left. It now has its own shaded block on the right. In addition to allowing an instant email to the profile manager, there is now a redesigned “connections” icon which allows you to see how the profile manager is connected to the profile. In the past, I needed to go to another part of WikiTree to see this information. Now when I contact a profile manager, I may gain insight of their motivation to create or manage the profile.

The next improvement may be lost on many WikiTreer users.

Better placement of Ancestors and Problems/Questions buttons

As part of the Ambassador team at WikiTree and someone who is often demonstrating WikiTree, I appreciate that the Ancestors Button and Problems/Questions buttons are no longer in a similar position with the same design. Note: There would be a descendants button on the “old” version if Arthur had descendants. The new design allows the user to access ancestors or descendants using the icon in the grey Quick Menu bar or using the clearly visible tab.

Either option opens a family tree for Arthur, also with an improved look and feel. It features separated colour blocks, cleaner font and icons, and arrows to navigate further back in the tree. The Descendants view has similar improvements.

Back on the profile page, it’s time to look at the treatment of DNA in the new profile.

DNA Connections can now be accessed via the Quick Menu in grey and is found in a familiar location along the right, now below a redesigned photo section. Again, the text block is cleaner, easier to read, and only contains the information it needs to contain.

The old images block sometimes made a simple profile like Arthur’s lopsided, with the photos dominating the right side. A new photo block allows you to toggle through the uploaded images using a navigation arrow to the side of each photo. You can also navigate quickly to the “Upload Photos” page, which has also received an update and is cleaner and easier to use. Again, kudos to the Design Team and programmers. They went over this website with a fine-toothed comb!

In the past, the use of yellow background wasn’t clear to me. Now yellow highlights collaboration and ongoing research. The collaboration language is friendly and clear. The research block encourages people to check out the incredibly useful WikiTree Sourcer Extension (which works great with the new updates.)

Comments, Matches and Merges, and useful Connection and Relationship Information

Scrolling down, you can see how the new design makes better use of space – there is not a huge empty block to the left. In profiles with a longer biography, there will be blank space to the smaller right side of the page. The Comments and Match and Merge sections have gotten the cleaner, pithier treatment, and thankfully, the text with “See your connection or your genealogical relationship with Arthur” is now separated from the Featured Connections text.

Even the footer is now easier to read and more pleasing to the eye.

I know this is a tiny glimpse of all that was accomplished with this redesign, and there’s much more I haven’t noticed yet. I look forward to finding the features I’ve missed, and new features that may replace what I’ve shown here.

Well done, WikiTree!

And if you’re new to WikiTree, welcome! Check out the Help links on WikiTree and useful information at the WikiTree YouTube channel.

November 28, 2023

Reflecting on 2023 and gearing up for 2024

It’s been a busy year in genetic genealogy! I’m getting a head start on reviewing the year as I plan for 2024.

You can still find me as a coach over at Your DNA Guide. Through that opportunity, I’ve connected with many people learning how powerful DNA can be to support their understanding of their family and themselves.

In addition to creating course content and coaching people at Your DNA Guide, I’ve worked with clients who are surfacing their family’s involvement in slavery. It’s an honour and privilege to support efforts to face history. Much of this work is on WikiTree as part of the US Black Heritage Project.

I’ve also enjoyed many great educational opportunities such as the 15th Annual Conference on Genetic Genealogy and the National Genealogical Society’s course on Empowering Genealogists with AI.

I’ve also provided educational opportunities for WikiTree, the Linked Descendants group at Coming to the Table, and the Indiana African American Genealogy Group. I am doing one more presentation this year for the Virtual Genealogical Association.

Next year, I’m looking forward to revamping this website, offering a hands-on course for people getting started with their DNA, and being part of an instructor team at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh for a course coordinated by my teammate at Your DNA Guide, Kelli Bergheimer. I’ll be coaching participants in all of the Your DNA Guide courses and supporting other Academy Offerings. As part of the Your DNA Guide team, I will be attending RootsTech. I’ll be speaking for a couple of genealogy societies and expect to have a chance to work with others as the year unfolds.

Working on my own genealogy has included moving more of my family to WikiTree. This includes the ancestors of my grandchildren, which has given me an opportunity to work with more DNA testers and explore records in new geographic areas! I continue to make slow progress on some of my own DNA puzzles.

Thanks for following me on this journey!

September 18, 2022January 2, 2025

A New Feature in the FamilySearch Family Tree: Other Relationships

In August, FamilySearch added a new feature: the capability to link non-relatives to someone in their Family Tree. The FamilySearch Family Tree is a shared family tree where everyone works on the same tree. WikiTree, one of my favourite genealogy websites, is another.

This feature benefits anyone doing FAN Club research. The FAN Club are a person’s friends, associates, and neighbours. Elizabeth Shown Mills coined the term and it revolutionized genealogical research. One of the best ways to solve documentary genealogical mysteries is to focus on others who interacted with our ancestor. Seeing the same neighbours, witnesses, bondsmen, and chain crews (people involved in surveying property) can help us be sure the person we are researching is the person we are interested in, or help us distinguish two people of the same name. To see another post on FAN Club research see here.

The feature can also associate people linked through slavery. The best effort to do this is the US Black Heritage Project at WikiTree, which I’ve written about here. The WikiTree effort differs from the current “Other Relationships” Feature at FamilySearch because there are standards and project teams working to support the effort. Nevertheless, FamilySearch’s “Other Relationships” Feature will benefit researchers.

Here’s where you find “Other Relationships.” First you need to be using the “New Person Page.” To find that, click on the upper right “Go to New Person Page” when viewing any person in the FamilySearch Family Tree as shown below. I’m using my 3x great-grandfather, Thomas Adam Walker, as an example.

FamilySearch Family Tree location of New Person Page link

The New Person Page features a new banner, is organized differently, and provides easier navigation. In the view below, I’ve collapsed the sections so that the “Other Relationships” is visible (red arrow).

“Other Relationships” Section in the New Person Page

When you click on “Add Other Relationship,” a dialogue box appears.

Clicking the “Relationship” drop-down menu provides the following choices, shown below: apprenticeship, employment, godparent, household, neighbor, relative, slavery.

My ancestor was an enslaver, so I wanted to add a slavery relationship. (I’ve already done this on WikiTree, which has a more robust system to describe relationships and categories. I decided to put it on the FamilySearch Family Tree because many people use it for their research. Thomas Walker’s WikiTree profile with the link to Mary Jane is here. ) When I choose “Slavery” from the drop-down menu, I see the the linkage shown in a diagram, below.

When I click on “Save” at the bottom right, I get a new dialogue box and I can either add a new person, or use the FamilySearch Family Tree unique identifier to link to them. Since Mary Jane doesn’t seem to be on the Family Tree (and I don’t know if she survived to emancipation, or the surname she used after emancipation if she lived); I will enter her as a new person. She can be merged later if a duplicate entry in the Family Tree is found.

The next step is to enter what I know about Mary Jane, which isn’t a lot. It is enough to help someone who might be searching for her.

I’ve filled in the details I know below. I used Walker as her last name. WikiTree has the ability to provide multiple last names, which is another reason to make sure this information is on WikiTree. I decided to not guess that she was born or died in Tennessee, which is likely.

When I click “Next,” FamilySearch has checked their database and found someone with a similar name and dates.

Since I’m sure Mary Jane was not born in Ireland and I know Walker is a provisional last name, I click “Create Person” as shown by the red arrow. Another box comes up, providing me an opportunity to make sure I have the linkage done properly, showing Thomas Adam Walker as the “Slaveholder” and Mary Jane Walker as the “Enslaved Person.” (Perhaps FamilySearch will reconsider their terms at some point. Slave Holder doesn’t begin to convey the nature of this relationship. “Enslaver” would be a better term. I acknowledge they may be using this term to allow search engines to find this information. Our terms will continue to evolve over time. WikiTree has an explanation about terminology, and why they use the terms they have chosen here.)

Review the Direction of the Relationship

When I click “Save” in the lower right of the dialog box, I am taken back to Thomas Waker’s profile and I can now see the relationship to Mary Jane.

I haven’t been asked to add a source at any time, so I need to do that. The Bill of Sale between Thomas Walker and Holloway Key, another of my 3x great-grandfathers, is on FamilySearch, so I navigate to the document. The “Attach to Family Tree” button in the upper right is what I need.

Attaching a Document to a Person in the FamilySearch FamilyTree

This opens a bar on the right.

I next add in some details about how this record is linked to Thomas Walker, as shown in the upper red arrow in the image below. When I’m satisfied, I click the blue button to choose the person in the FamilySearch Family Tree that I want to add this record to.

Creating the Source and Continuing by Selecting the Person

FamilySearch then asks me to enter the person’s ID (their unique identifying number, which appears near their name on their page) or if I’ve been working in FamilySearch, I will see a list of people below. Note: I’ve placed a grey box over the rest of the list to preserve the privacy of clients I am currently working with.

Attaching the Document to a Person, Select Person Step

I’m almost done. FamilySearch asks me to check my work and asks for an explanation next to the red arrow. This is an important step. Linkages form the foundation for genealogy.

Checking the Linkage and Providing a Rationale

I write about the enslaver-enslaved relationship in the box provided.

I like to check my work, so I go back to Thomas Walker’s profile and check the Sources list. The date for the Bill of Sale is missing! It doesn’t show up in order in the Sources list.

This is a quick fix. I click on “Add” (circled above) and a dialog box appears.

I add the date and recheck. It’s now in the right place.

My final task is to add this document to Mary Jane. Since she is linked on Thomas Walker’s page, I can repeat the above process for Mary Jane to create a source, and on Holloway Kee’s page, I can add the “Other Relationship” along with the source. It’s much faster the second time since I have a model to follow.

The result is that Mary Jane now has a Page on the FamilySearch Family Tree, shown below.

This is a great step for FamilySearch and will help researchers in many ways. The functionality on WikiTree US Black Heritage is superior. For example, the category search that would allow anyone looking for an enslaved person in Benton County to find Mary Jane. A person could also search the Benton County Tennessee Slave Owners (see note about terminology above.). The ability to give her multiple provisional surnames also aids any researchers looking for Mary Jane.

Thanks FamilySearch, for adding this feature!

September 10, 2022January 2, 2025

Research Like a Pro Week 1: Getting started and the Research Objective

This fall I am volunteering as a Peer Group Leader for the Research Like a Pro Study Group hosted by Diana Elder and Nicole Dyer of Family Locket. Making the transition from family historian to professional genealogist required me to become a more disciplined researcher. The team at Family Locket supported me on my journey through their podcast, books, courses, and presentations at conferences. I’m a process person likely due to my background in quality improvement. Throughout my healthcare career, the Model for Improvement guided our efforts with the message “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.” (Paul Batalden, often quoted by Don Berwick). To improve as a genealogist, I needed to change my system. In this case, that’s the research process. For the next ten weeks, I will share my insights into the Research Like a Pro process. This course is focusing on documentary research. As a peer group leader, I will be completing a project with the participants. It’s a great opportunity to work on my own family history.

Pedigree Analysis

Identifying potential areas for research is the first step in making the most of your research efforts. Analyzing your pedigree accomplishes this step. DNA Painter provides multiple ways to visualize your family tree. The first thing I checked was my tree completeness. This tells me where I have gaps in my tree and also reminds me about pedigree collapse, which is a subject for a different blog.

Tree Completeness Report from DNA Painter

I’m missing two 3x-great grandparents and sixteen 4x-great grandparents. A fan chart, like this example from DNA Painter is another way to look at the gaps. On DNA painter, hovering over each colored shape brings up the name of the person represented in that space on the chart. That feature isn’t shown in the image below since I can’t capture the hovering. You can use this link to see it for yourself. My father’s side of the family is on the left and my mother on the right. I’ve coordinated these colours to resemble the coloured dots I use on Ancestry to mark my DNA matches.

FAN Chart from DNA Painter Showing Location of Mattie (Childres) Fisher Pike Adams

The arrow indicates the location of the most recent ancestor whose parents I don’t know. Many refer to this as a “Brick Wall.” I could continue documentary research on Mattie for this course. During the Research Like a Pro with DNA e-course I completed, I identified several families that could be Mattie’s parents.

Another opportunity is my 3x-great grandfather, James Stoker, shown below.

My grandmother believed he was the son of Edward Stoker, a Revolutionary War Veteran. During ProGen 46, I took a look at the link between generations from Edward Stoker to my 3x-great grandfather James and realized there were multiple men named James Stoker who could have been his son James, as noted in a Stoker family Bible. Several of them left records in Bourbon County, Kentucky around 1820 where my ancestor James Stoker married Polly Ross on 9 December 1822. I also noted that the birth date of James Stoker in the family Bible of Edward Stoker (found in his Revolutionary War Pension file) did not match the birthdate of my 3x-great grandfather. Many family trees shared on Ancestry confuse the James Stokers, and the Ancestry hinting algorithm points to Edward Stoker. WikiTree has my James Stoker linked to Edward. The FamilySearch Family Tree has a note about the confusion: ” Be aware…. Another Individual, ‘James T Stoker’ was born in Kentucky and resided most of his live [sic] in Nicholas County, KY. Married Sytha Ann McDonald 20 Dec 1827 in Nicholas Co KY.” I didn’t fully analyze the same-name people when I first discovered the confusion. Thoroughly researching the men and writing up the results would be a contribution and help me correct the WikiTree entry.

Another way of analyzing my pedigree and determining where I could focus is using Yvette Hoitink’s Level Up Challenge. I started working on improving my genealogy based on her approach after she published this idea in her blog in January of 2021. The levels describe the completeness of your research for each ancestor. In some cases I’m not sure which level to give because I write a biography for everyone on WikiTree. I may not have researched all property records (some parts of my family were very mobile) or know every church denomination they attended over time. I used DNA Painter’s Dimensions “Research Level” feature to create this chart.

Based on this diagram, my efforts would be to continue researching my mother’s family, particularly Andrew Jackson Pike and Mattie Childres that I designated as Level 2. (Note: See the YDNA and mtDNA haplogroups? That’s a neat feature of the tree on DNA Painter, and another project is to complete my YDNA and mtDNA tree like Roberta Estes does). I spend a lot of time researching my mother’s family and have neglected my paternal grandmother’s family including James Stoker.

I haven’t written up a same-name case before, so that’s my choice for this project. I expect that writing clearly will be the biggest challenge. For reference, I have two National Genealogical Society (NGSQ) articles I reviewed during my NGSQ Study Group. One is by Shannon Green, who was my mentor in ProGen 46. The other is by Allen R. Peterson and Stephen J. Allen. Both are found in the December 2019 NGSQ

File Organization

Our assignment this week also asks us to describe how we name and organize files and how our choices support our research.

I organize documents in two ways depending on where I am in the research process. My basic family history files structure relies on folders for the surnames of each of my sixteen 2x-great grandparents. Within those folders there are sub-folders for individuals. Women are filed under their maiden name, since it is the only constant. While I am working on a specific project, I create a project folder within the surname or person. Project folders start with a number like 01-Mattie Childres Father so that it will sort at the top. Within each project folder, there is a sources folder.

I use the following naming conventions for files (.jpg, .pdf, .docx, etc.) so that the folder becomes a timeline:

YYYY-MM-DD_LASTNAME_Firstname_Middleifpresent_STATE_County_Town_type.file

Dates: YYYY-MM-DD format keeps them sorted. I include as much detail as I have. It could be year only, year and month, or all three. If I don’t have the exact date, I use the best information I have and put “ca” after the date so I know it is approximate and the sorting order is maintained.
Names are written as they appear in the record with the surname in ALL CAPS. The caps help me scan the files for surnames and variations.
State is the two-digit state or province abbreviation.
Type is the type of document
File is the extension (pdf, jpg, docx).

Examples:

1840_STOKER_Jas_KY_Bourbon_census.jpg

1882-11_SMILEY_James_KY_Floyd_court.jpg

1955ca_DAVIS_Alvon_AK_Kodiak_letter_to_DAVIS_Edna_transcription.docx

When I complete a project or identify a document I know I want to cite in Reunion (family tree software for Mac) I make a duplicate and add the source number that Reunion assigns to the beginning of the name and file it in a a digital folder in my Reunion folder.

Filed in Reunion:

2622-1882_11_SMILEY_James_KY_Floyd_court.jpg

I keep any useful paper copies in plastic sleeves in 3 ring binders in numeric order of the Reunion citation. I should invest in some archival safe plastic sleeves for the few originals that I own.

Research Objective

A possible research objective is:

The goal of this project is to identify which of multiple James Stokers known to have been in Kentucky was the son of Edward Stoker. Edward Stoker served in Capt. John Lemon’s Company during the Revolutionary War and died 7 May 1846 in Nicholas County, Kentucky.

Another option is:

The goal of this research project is to clarify the identities of men named James Stoker in Bourbon County, Kentucky from approximately 1820 to 1840. James Stoker filed a bond to marry Polly Ross on 9 December 1822 in Bourbon County. Jas. Stoker, age 79, lived in the household of his son-in-law, Jas. Cleaver, in 1880 in Millersburg, Bourbon County. James H. Stoker, presumed age 40-50, lived in Bourbon County in 1830.

I have additional information about the men named James Stoker in Kentucky but I think it would confuse the objective. I can put it in the next section of my research project document, summary of known facts. The objective identifies Edward Stoker, because I realize he is the person I can identify at present. I look forward to receiving feedback from my coursemates!