I neeeeeed this one
The Legal Genealogist has determined that Francis Marion Robertson appears in dozens of family trees on Ancestry.
And I Do Need A favor on this one.
List him with the right parents and grandparents, wouldja?
His mama, Samantha (Battles) Robertson, was my 3rd great-grandaunt, a younger sister to my third great grandmother Margaret (Battles) Shew. His daddy, a Georgia-born farmer named John T. Robertson. The family was enumerated in Cherokee County, Alabama, in 1860 with five boys: the twins, William Columbus and James Americus, age 4; Dolphus Augustus, age 3; Francis Marion, age 2; and Chesterfield, age 1. Two households away from Samantha’s parents, William and Ann (Jacobs) Battles.1
Samantha died sometime in the 1860s; her widower remarried in Etowah County in 1867. The baby, Chesterfield, didn’t survive to the 1870 census. But all four of the other boys lived, grew, married and had families. Including Francis Marion, enumerated with his father and stepmother in 1870,2 married in 1879,3 enumerated with wife and children in 1900,4 and died and was buried in Alabama in 1906.5
But — sigh — that’s not what a whole passel of family trees on Ancestry say…
Lots of folks — citing little but other Ancestry trees — make him the son of Bedford and Martha (Heath) Robertson of Georgia.
Um…
Nope.
There was a Frank Robertson who was the son of Bedford and Martha (Heath) Robertson. His full name was Francis or Frank Lunsford Robertson, he was born in Georgia in 1858, enumerated there in every census from 1860 through 1930, died there on 7 November 1936 and is buried there in Georgia.6 His death certificate names his parents, so we know this is the right guy.7
So… why does this matter?
Because you don’t get ThruLines on Ancestry if the match has the wrong parents for a critical link.
And Samantha is the only one of Margaret’s siblings where I haven’t yet gotten a ThruLines link.
So c’mon, descendants of Francis Marion Robertson.
I really Do Need A favor on this one.
Fix your trees, willya…
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “DNA favor,” The Legal Genealogist (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : posted 12 June 2022).
SOURCES
- 1860 U.S. census, Cherokee County, Alabama, First Division, population schedule, p. 315 (stamped), dwelling/family 827, John “Robinson” household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 May 2018); citing National Archive microfilm publication M653, roll 5. Note that Samantha is enumerated as Alamantha and, except for Chesterfield, none of the boys’ full names is given in this record. And see ibid., p. 314-315 (stamped), dwelling/family 825, William Battles household, for Samantha’s parents and Francis Marion’s grandparents. ↩
- 1870 U.S. census, Etowah County, Alabama, population schedule, Subdivision 2, p. 348B-349A (stamped), dwelling 744, family 793, John “Robison” household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 June 2022); imaged from NARA microfilm M593, roll 16. ↩
- Etowah County, Alabama, Marriage Book B: 105; marriage license and return, Robinson-Freeman, 26 Oct 1879; digital images,FamilySearch.org (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 12 June 2022). ↩
- 1900 U.S. census, Cherokee County, Alabama, population schedule, Ball Play, enumeration district (ED) 123, p. 101B (stamped), dwelling 99, family 104, Frank M Robertson household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 June 2022); imaged from NARA microfilm T623, roll 6. ↩
- See Union #3 Baptist Church Cemetery, Etowah County, Alabama, Francis Marion Robertson marker; digital image, Find A Grave (https://findagrave.com : accessed 12 June 2022). ↩
- See generally Frank Lunsford Robertson memorial #100168534; Find A Grave (https://findagrave.com : accessed 12 June 2022). ↩
- Georgia Department of Public Health, certificate no. 30477, Frank Lunsford Robertson, 7 Nov 1936; digital images, “Georgia, U.S., Death Records, 1914-1940,” Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 June 2022). ↩
Good luck!
Sorry, I can’t help you, but… sigh… I have the same problem in my tree.
Yes, good luck. Judy, surely you know that people won’t fix their Ancestry trees for a variety of reasons. Inactive membership, lack of research skills, and yes, Ancestry’s disastrous policy of letting people copy others’ trees (Not limited to Ancestry, MyHeritage is also at fault.) Then there are the serious researchers who would be glad to fix their trees, except they don’t yet know the more accurate information. As we continue to discover more records and DNA continues to prove a lot of our trees at least biologically wrong, this problem will only get worse.
Ancestry’s new home page is full of bright shiny enticements to add stuff that does not belong. It’s not going to get any better.
So thanks for highlighting the benefits of getting things right in your own tree – more links to good stuff!
To think, now that we are better able to travel, some people are going to visit places their ancestors never came from. Just hope the scenery is good.