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Aug 2008 Issue
by LaRae Free Kerr
RUMBLE, puff, RUMBLE, puff, the train charged its way down Highway 6 towards the eastern canyons. As my husband and I watched it and felt its noisy rhythm rumbling and puffing down the track, we commented on how long it was. Dozens of ore cars heading back to the mines. RUMBLE- puff, light on their tracks because the cars were empty, hurrying to get there but full of nothing.
“The train reminds me,” I said, “of the runaway train of Mary Utie, a woman who does not exist, supposed wife of Richard Perkins. In fact, she was made up, yet her name is gathering speed and power as it is repeated over and over, a train of empty cars barreling along at high speeds.”
Here is Mary’s story, or unstory if you prefer. About five years ago a man added the surname Utie to the Mary who married Richard Perkins about 1688, probably in Baltimore County, Maryland. He then uploaded his pedigree to the web where I found it. Since I had been searching for Mary’s surname for some years, I emailed him, excited, asking for sources.
He said in essence, “Because she has a grandson named Ute (Uriah), and because there were Uties in the area where she lived, I entered that surname as a working hypothesis.” He added, “I have no evidence of any kind.”
So I stopped in at a Frederick, Maryland historical society and in a matter of a few hours discovered there was indeed a Mary Utie. But according to court documents, she married Anthony Drew. And from 1686 through 1694 at the least, she was bearing his children. That is the very same time that Richard Perkins’ wife Mary was having his six children. So Richard Perkins’ wife was NOT Mary Utie.
Yet the website owner did not remove that name from his website. Now it is everywhere, a train car full of nothing, rushing down the canyons and through the hills, carrying an empty name. For example, eight Richard Perkins entries on Ancestry.com’s
A 2005 history, My Bones Are Red, lists Mary Utie as Richard’s wife. And just today I found a Rootsweb message about Mary Utie attaching information on George and Nathanial Utie whose wills, by the way, prove Mary Utie married Anthony Drew and not Richard Perkins. So someone, without looking at a single record, plucked that surname, Utie, off the Internet and is now searching all the Uties in the area.
They have added cars to the empty Mary train.
Lest you think Perkins researchers are the only ones riding the empty freights, let me give you two more of many examples.
A two-volume set called The Frontier Hendricks had some information on the Sherrill family, so I tried to find it through Google Books. In every case, the book was listed as “missing in action.” Finally I found a message stating that the family who had commissioned the work from a professional researcher had discovered through DNA testing that the family in the books was not their family. So all of the books had been pulled, presumably destroyed. At least that train was waylaid at the station.
Then it was claimed that William Sherrill’s wife, Margaret or Mary, born about 1670 was surnamed Rudisil. But the first Rudisil to America arrived between 1725 and 1750, way too late to father a daughter born in 1670. This mistake was made because someone read William’s son’s name Samuel as Rudisil – and didn’t check to see if there were any Rudisils in America at the time.
These are perfect examples of why every genealogist recommends to every other genealogist that they use the information they find on the Internet as guides to further research, not as facts. But while contemplating that research, what can you do to prevent and contain such errors?
First and foremost, do not, DO NOT, pass on any information you acquire that is not documented. Now I’m not talking about a few notes or tax lists tacked onto the data. Documentation requires sources for each event on the record. Plus relationships have to be proven. So look for birth, marriage and death records, probates and censuses. Some deeds do provide parentage. For example, a 1736 deed gives this relationship: “William Sherwill father of the said Adam Sherwill.”
Old pedigrees such as those on Ancestral File and Pedigree Research File are often wrong, but they don’t hold a candle to the junk on the Internet. Please understand that collecting your pedigree from the Internet will result in an erroneous pedigree. Use that stuff as a guide to research and don’t be afraid to diverge from it when the documents show you should.
Second, search PERSI, the Periodical Source Index created by Allen County Library. You can access it through most public library accounts at home. This is an index of scholarly research on thousands of names. It may contain corrections and updates on your family.
Third, gather your male relatives’ DNA then compare it with each of the databases already in existence. Remember, never believe anything that is not well and truly documented. And never add to the runaway train carrying empty cars by posting or sharing incomplete or incorrect data.
LaRae Free Kerr, M ED can be reached at
Itsallrelatives@sfcn.org or Itsallrelatives.net.
