Private User
There's actually a discussion specifically for asking Pro Users to do merges for Basic Users.
http://www.geni.com/discussions/99133
Captain Samuel Mayo I was looking to connect my daughter to the Mayflower lineage of Stephen Hopkins, through the marriage of Samuel Mayo to Ruth Hopkins, but the society says this marriage has not been proven. So I went into the revisions of Samuel's profile, thinking that I could contact the person who added Ruth Hopkins as his wife, but all I saw was the "GENI" symbol where someone's face would be, and no indication of who added them as spouses. Any ideas?
Barbara the Geni symbol could mean a number of things but the main issue here is that more source information needs to be added to the profile. There's a decent over view to guide you but obviously and particularly to satisfy the Mayflower Society guidelines, you need to do some research, and build out the sources.
@Erica Howton - I did some quick searches for a marriage, and didn't find anything. I'm thinking that if the Mayflower isn't happy with the marriage, and no one has come up with anything acceptable for a marriage, chances are that I'm not going to be able to come up with anything. I have access to ancestry & NEHGS, and family search is free, so I don't know where else? Especially since I am in Massachusetts, I would think that if in a few hundred years, nothing has been found to make the society happy, I'm in a very small boat in the middle of a very large ocean, no pun intended! haha
1) you need to get the documents and references into the Geni profile
2) the Mayflower (and all lineage organizations) accept new evidence all the time. So you need to find out what their specific requirements are for this specific event.
3) once you know what you need - and what might work around - you'll know better what to look for.
4) I would start with understanding where they might have been married. If it was a church there might be records there.
5) marriages can be inferred by information such as baptisms and wills. I see all the time - "my daughter Reynolds" (giving her new surname). Town Vital Records may record the children's births and name the parents. You may have to pile on the evidence to make the case, perhaps, if there's no nicely laminated marriage certificate to be found - but there should be information for a Mayo / Hopkins marriage, perhaps circumstantial, out there.
6) Did you check Sons of the American Revolution applications through Ancestry.com? They sometimes give complete pedigrees to the "first immigrant" with supporting details mentioned.
Yes, I thought it was just because of my old pc. It started to fail some months ago in the Timeline tab for locations, but now as of the past day or so it fails on all location fields. No locations pop up to select from. And I keep getting an error notice also a few seconds after every time I open these discussion forums.
Erica Howton, I will try to do all those things, my daughter actually has 3 lines to the Mayflower Society, so we might go with the Rogers line, that is acutally documented. I was just quite surprised at the abrupt terse reply that they gave us about the marriage not being proved. I think she had at least a half dozen children with the man! Thank you for your suggestions.
Erica Howton- with regard to the above profile, Ruth Bangs Hopkins, both of her husbands lived into their 80's so I find it also improbable that she was married to both Samuel Mayo and Edward Bangs. Should she be separated from one husband, and a 'dummy' wife put on for Samuel Mayo, since the Mayflower Society doesn't recognize her as his wife? Would solve some confusion where all her children are concerned.
I will "divorce" from Bangs.
I am reluctant to change the Mayo marriage as the absence of proof (the relevant record pages are missing from the Eastham books) is not proof. I believe the most relevant "authority" is Torrey's New England Marriages before 1700. His written statement was a very clear: no proof, not "no.".
Now that we have the current thinking of the Mayflower Society ("not an accepted Lineage so far") - and the reasons why - that will be helpful for those applying. But Geni is not a lineage society; we are family tree software, and our "sourced MPs" are concerned with "the most likely" scenario as far as we know.
I haven't looked at the OTHER possible tree placements for Ruth Hopkins - I think 2 were mentioned? But I'm not seeing compelling reason to change the "most likely" assigned by the quoted compiler, are you?
Correction
"Captain Edward Bangs Married 2nd Mrs. Ruth Mayo of Eastham, Jan. 16, 1739, who died August 17, 1747."
And she is in his will dated April 14, 1746 as "beloved wife Ruth."
More here:
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=oldma...
When my site regarding the Yount Family was merged with another, I now see that James Riley Yount is his own brother. I don't know who or when the sites were merged as I am not a Pro user. Several other members of the Yount Family are also listed as their own brothers. Is there someone who can untangle the Yount Family? James Riley Yount was my husband's great great grandfather. His son James Ryan Yount was my husbands Great Grandfather. Zora Carl Yount was his Grandfather. The other person who manages the site is Alena Renee Stephens. Thank you for your assistance.
Wanda Signe Vermeers James Riley Yount is a private profile. No one outside your family group can see it. If you want help, it needs to be public.
Wanda Signe Vermeers You are the manager of his profile and Alena shows no activity since Nov 24, 2010. I think you should just go ahead and do it.
I made James Riley Yount's profile public and also a few other Yount Family members. I don't know how they got to be Private Profiles because I don't remember designating them as Private. I see there is another person besides Alena Renee Stephens who manages some Yount Family profiles. Her name is Elizabeth Gaye Thomas. If you can untangle this for me I will be extremely thankful.
Wanda Signe Vermeers, Mike Stangel
Wanda, majority of New users have no idea - they are creating Private profiles - when they have no such intention.
It creates problems on Geni for other Users - who believe in sharring information Publicly (profiles of people who died or living with names only).
Perhaps 1 day - Geni can Improve this - by changinging the Default (private) - and/or making the option of Public vs Private so Visible - no one could miss it.
Telling users the Benefits of Public vs. Private profiles - could be linked to the Public & Private options
Erica Howton - cc. Mike Stangel - Erica, you asked - an enhancement request on the HELP platform?
I have no idea if it's possible - since I prefer "Field Help" - something we were adding to fields on screens already in late 70's.
Most users (all appications) - don't read Help, when it's in seperate locations from the screen they're working on.
Unless Geni is planning "Field Help" for at least Important fields & options - I am just spinning my wheel & Venting !!!
But thanks Erica :)