Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, KB - Paternity of Horatio Nelson Rhees and relationship to Harriet Rhees

Started by Private User on Wednesday, July 29, 2015
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Private User
7/29/2015 at 9:25 PM

Further to the note placed at the top of the profile by a curator, I am starting a discussion thread here about this matter in the hope that a definitive and reliable source will enable us to make a decision as to whether to let the relationships stand in Geni.

I am going to copy here what I wrote on another (general) discussion thread with curators.

I have searched high and low for a trustworthy source of information for proof of this liaison and offspring and have so far been unable to find anything.
This page from another genealogy site
http://www.cragun.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I1521&am...... (See Family 1, and scroll down to see it all)
Contains quite a long note speculating on the likelihood of such a liaison, and the author concludes that it's unlikely, but leaves the relationship in place anyway.

8/1/2015 at 7:56 AM

Private User The trustworthiness of Geni depends on all entries can be proved. In the case of a famous historical person, we should adopt the principle of “no original research”, which means that all entries should be based on reliable published sources, preferably academic and peer-reviewed publications. The article you link to clearly does not satisfy such criteria, and the alleged relationship is, of course, not mentioned in Wikipedia. The relationship should therefore be deleted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#What_counts_a...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:No_original_research

By the way: it appears in the same link that Harriet Rhees in the years 1809 – 1816 gave birth to three more children, who also have “Horatio Nelson” listed as their father. But they do not appear in Geni …
http://www.cragun.com/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I1521&tr...
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=59074735

Private User
8/1/2015 at 10:42 PM

Andreas Peter Braëm Vedel

I'm completely with you there, Andreas - and I had seen that other (findagrave) reference too, earlier - but I haven't wanted to tread on anyone's toes and as a relative newbie (joined a while ago but only started getting active a few weeks ago) am still finding my way around.

I can't get the tagging to work on their names, but it seems as if Angus Wood Salomon removed the relationship and Carole Pomeroy has also done some work on the profile recently.

However, the Rhees child's name still remains.

Is there a case for locking this profile, as has been done with other nobility and royalty with frequent use?

Private User
8/1/2015 at 10:44 PM

Ric Dickinson
Angus Wood-Salomon
Carole (Erickson) Pomeroy,Vol. Curator

Please see above.

(I found that tagging worked after I'd finished my previous comment and landed on your profiles!)

I think that I'll pose my last question in the ATTN curators general discussion thread, as I'd like to know what rationale or formula causes some profiles to be locked down...

Private User
8/2/2015 at 12:28 AM

I meant to add that I am awaiting a couple of reputable Nelson biographies that I've requested at my local library, to see if there's anything to suggest the Rhees liaison in print.

Private User
8/2/2015 at 7:51 AM

I think you will find that there isn't. There was quite enough scandal about Nelson abandoning his wife for Lady Hamilton, and had there been any suspicion that he was false to both women, it would have been all over society for years.

Neither "Horatio" nor "Nelson" is a unique name, singly or in combination, and as seen with other such cases (Francis Drake, John Hawkins, et al), there have been instances where a relative or unrelated person of the same name has been misidentified as the famous one.

Private User
8/2/2015 at 10:10 AM

Removed Frances "Fanny" Houston Tucker Nelson Frances "Fanny" Tucker Nelson (Courtenay) from the Adm. Horatio Nelson family tree. She was not born a Nelson, she married a man of that name (Thomas "Scotch Tom" Nelson, of Penrith, Cumbria) as her second husband.

8/2/2015 at 10:35 AM

I have cut the connection to Harriet Rhees until further proof can be found

Private User
8/2/2015 at 6:05 PM

Thanks Private User and Angus Wood-Salomon.

(I hadn't noticed that other "Fanny", but a good thing she's gone too!).

What do you think about the multiplicity of pictures under "Media", and also the exceedingly long bio under "About"? I think the first could do with a bit of a cleanup of cuplicates, and in my opinion such a long screed under "About" doesn't really belong in a family tree or genealogy site - it's easy enough to find info on Nelson, and plenty of links have been provided.

8/2/2015 at 6:15 PM

Carole (Erickson) Pomeroy,Vol. Curator

Would you be kind enough to advise us here about the amount of information showing in his About Me

His bio in Dictionary of National Biography is quite long, I could shorten it.

Although can there really be enough information listed in the 'About' section? It's listed mostly for reference to help when there are problems such as miss-merges, wrong connections, etc. A lot of references seem to be incomplete, leaving out some family connections, or other information.

Private User
8/3/2015 at 1:42 AM

Ah, thanks Carole (and Angus) - I see that you have bolded the relevant bits about his relationships, which is of course pertinent given the controversies and potential for misinformation. (I previously just skimmed it and there seemed to be a lot of info about his travels and battles and thought that it may have just been posted as a general bio.)

Good thinking. So long as it's relevant and readable, I have no objection - was just wondering about the general standards and rationale about biographical info on this site. Im still learning the ropes here!

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