Sunday, April 19, 2015

Never Assume! Always Confirm!

OH NO! Anyone who has copied from my tree on Ancestry is wrong!  I've checked, and EVERYONE (over 20 trees) have the wrong immigration details for Donald Scott! Mine included!!  I wonder how many others will pick up the error?

In preparation for a research trip to UK next year, I am going back through my information to confirm the details held.  Over the years, additional information is now available online.

I have always wondered why my Great Great Grandfather Donald Scott came to Australia to be a poor farmer, when his family, who remained in Scotland, were wealthy compared to most.  His father, Adam Bisset Scott, was a tailor and owned at least 3 properties in Leith, with one of these properties being 3 units.

Everyone (including myself) had determined from the Public Record Office website that Donald had arrived at Port Phillip (Victoria, Australia) aboard the Sappho in 1852.

Unassisted Passenger Detail - Source http://prov.vic.gov.au/
This put his year of birth at approximately 1833.  This aligned to the information in the Marriage and Death Certificates and also the birth certificate of his children, which all indicated a year of birth of 1832.(even though his baptism records show his birth year as 1829).

Donald married later in life, at age 48, and his wife Mary Ann (Polly) was 25 years younger.   I wondered if he had deliberately changed his year of birth so he didn't seem quite as old as he really was?

Today when checking details, the original passenger list is now available on Ancestry, which is how I realised that I (and everyone else on Ancestry) had made an error!  We had incorrectly "assumed" that we had the correct Donald Scott as he was the only one listed!

Sappho Passenger Manifest 1852
Source: www.ancestry.com
My immediate thought was "that looks like a family but Donald was single"!   It didn't take me long to confirm that the Donald Scott, who arrived on the Sappho was not my Great Great Grandfather. In addition to their names being the same, there were many similarities between the two of them (mothers name, age, occupation/s, for a time they lived in a similar area).  I was very annoyed at myself that I had many records and newspaper reports that I now know relate to the incorrect "Donald Scott" attached to my tree (and I apologise to anyone who has copied my tree).

So back to the immigration records I went!  So many years later, I now know from a letter that his wife wrote, that he was known as "Dan" (the same as his grandfather) so did not limit my searching to "Donald" this time.

There were now 7 different potential immigration records so I went back over my research again to look for "clues"

  • The death certificate indicates that Donald had been in the Australian colony for 40 years (so arrived in 1852) but it is also showed "England" as place of birth rather than "Scotland".  How could family members make such a mistake?  Hypothesis: Maybe he had moved to England prior to coming to Australia?
  • 1841 Scottish Census showed that he resided with his family in Scotland but no occupation (so no help)
  • 1851 Census (looking for an occupation or something to link to immigration records)  - After hours of searching all UK census records and discounting many potential people, I have been unable to local Donald/Daniel Scott.  Hypothesis:  Maybe he had left UK prior to 1851 census?
I got quite excited when I found convict Daniel Scott (age 19), who had been transported to Australia for a 10 year sentence in 1848.  All the dates seemed to fit.  Our Donald/Daniel Scott disappears between 1842-1877 so maybe this is the reason why?

Source: www.findmypast.com.au

Unfortunately, I soon realised that this was unlikely to be our ancestor as  the convict conduct records indicate that Braintree in Essex was his native place and not Scotland.  However I could not find any record of this convict dying or leaving Tasmania.

Although I have narrowed down to 3 potential immigration records, I cannot confirm or prove them so Donald Scott is now one of three ancestors, who I cannot confirm how and when they arrived in Australia.  Hopefully I can locate additional information when I visit Scotland!

NEVER ASSUME!  ALWAYS CONFIRM!


Mary Ann (Polly) and Donald (Dan) Scott with their children -
Tom, Jane, Eliza, Elsie, Christian and William
1890
 You can also read more about Donald Scott here.

14 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this story Sharon, a lesson to us all to never assume. It is a credit to you and your research that you revisit these records. Well done and withmore and more records becoming available I'm sure you'll solve the mystery of Donald/Daniel before long.

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  2. The real issue is those who have copied from online trees will not bother going back to recheck. I have corrected my errors on my website but I know others have copied to Ancestry and now the wrong info is in many trees. GRRR.

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    1. As more and more information becomes available, I am regularly going back and checking things and finding additional things. Your comments have reminded me that I really should delete my public tree, which has not been updated or checked for years (my private tree is the one that I work on now).

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  3. The real issue is those who have copied from online trees will not bother going back to recheck. I have corrected my errors on my website but I know others have copied to Ancestry and now the wrong info is in many trees. GRRR.

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    1. When I started out, I was naive and copied a lot of (incorrect) information so am not going back to confirm and check details. It has been an interesting project :)

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  4. Hi Sharon. I had ruled out the Donald Scott from the Sappho as I saw the original of the list and noticed he was with a family. Still looking for our ancestor. I hope we can find him one day!

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    1. Well Done! Hopefully we can find him soon :)

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  5. Well done for posting this Sharon...we all make mistakes...but not all admit them or go to correct them. good luck finding the right fellow.

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    1. Thank you Pauleen. I am pretty persistent so hopefully I will find him :)

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  6. Thank you, Sharon, for sharing your experience - I am sure so many of us have made worng assumptions in the course of our research. I went for years thinking my husband's ancestors came from Kirkbean in south west Scotland and we even hada short break there to follow the "ancestral trail". It was only when I came to write the family narrative, I stopped and thought I have absolutely no evidence that the Samuel Donaldson born in Kirkbean in 1729 was the same Samuel Donaldson who married in Leith in 1759. - one of the problems of research in the 18th century when it was not compulsory to register BMD. Still we enjoyed our holiday there, and it did make a good story for my blog on following false trails.

    Scott is one of the most popular surnames in my part of the country - the Scottish Borders and it is a challenge to ensure you are following the "right" line. I do like the photograph fo the large Scott family.

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    1. I hope I can find out more when I get over to Scotland. I know that Donald Scott senior was in Leith from 1789 (as the eldest son was born there) but before that I am unsure. I will enjoy trying to find out more :)

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  7. Thanks for sharing Sharon, this is a good leson for all of us!! Revisiting and analysing certainly makes for a better researcher.

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  8. And additional records are being added constantly so there is more information to be found!

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