| While you are out there trying to do research on | | | | that there were actually two Ralph Allens in |
| your family genealogy, you need to keep in mind | | | | Sandwich for a number of years, and it was also |
| one very important thing. There is a LOT of | | | | apparent that both of them were in some way a |
| misinformation out there, especially in this time of | | | | part of this family. In the Plymouth Colony |
| the internet where information flows faster than | | | | records there is mention of a Ralph Jr. and a |
| we can possibly keep up with it. | | | | Ralph Sr. But there was no indication that Ralph |
| Most people begin their search by starting a | | | | had named any of his children after himself. |
| family tree online at places like Ancestry or One | | | | But if this was the case, then which Ralph Allen |
| Great Family. These are wonderful sources of | | | | was my direct ancestor, the father of Jedediah? |
| information, and the larger they get the more | | | | And which was the son of the George I had |
| likely it is that you can hook onto someone else's | | | | spent so much time researching? After another |
| tree and all of a sudden discover dozens of | | | | two weeks of intensive research I finally had to |
| ancestors you didn't know of before. But, and this | | | | come to the conclusion that MY Ralph was the |
| is a big but, you cannot accept all of this as | | | | one called Ralph Jr. and that he was NOT the son |
| absolute truth. Any family tree that goes back far | | | | of George. How disappointing! And the sad thing is, |
| enough is going to have errors, some of them | | | | there is no way to quickly spread this information |
| quite serious ones, and sites like Ancestry are not | | | | to other people who have the Allens in their trees. |
| responsible for making sure the information that is | | | | People will still find the old sources that are wrong. |
| shared is accurate. That is your responsibility. | | | | I know my Ralph is connected to this family |
| A lot of people get their information from old | | | | somehow, I just don't know how, and I don't |
| manuscripts and books that are now out of | | | | think I'm ever going to. |
| copyright and being made available on the internet. | | | | Other mistakes are quite prevalent as well. If you |
| These people did their research at a time when it | | | | use sites that allow you to add other family trees |
| was extremely hard to do. They had to go to | | | | to your own, you really should at least skim over |
| the source records, or spend months and even | | | | the people who come into your tree. I constantly |
| years corresponding with someone who had | | | | find people who had children well after their own |
| access to them. They did not have the | | | | deaths, or when they were eight years old. I |
| advantage of the mountains of information we do | | | | found one account on a website, written up as a |
| today. So we can forgive them if they got some | | | | story, so you know the person had to have done |
| things wrong, which they did. But it still presents a | | | | at least SOME research. In this account they |
| problem for us today, because their erroneous | | | | mentioned the year of death, But two sentences |
| conclusions are now available to thousands of | | | | later they stated that the person was imprisoned |
| people through the magic of the internet. People | | | | two years afterward for having "Quaker leanings." |
| reading this material think they are reading | | | | In working with the Pilgrim era like I do I find that |
| accurate information, and they add that to their | | | | many people list birthplaces as being the same |
| trees, and the bad information gets spread | | | | place as somewhere they know their ancestor |
| around. This is why it is always necessary to go | | | | lived. But people were not born in Massachusetts |
| to the source records and verify things for | | | | in 1598, unless they were Native Americans. The |
| yourself. | | | | Pilgrims didn't arrive until 1620. |
| Let me give you a recent example I just went | | | | All of this illustrates how very important it is to |
| through myself. I had traced my ancestry back | | | | verify all your information however you can from |
| to a Jedediah Allen, who was born in Sandwich, | | | | primary sources. Town and church records are |
| Massachusetts in 1646. All of the information I | | | | excellent for this. If your ancestors were |
| was finding indicated he was the son of a Ralph | | | | Quakers, they were probably mentioned in |
| Allen, born in 1615 in England, and the grandson of | | | | meeting records somewhere. Much of this source |
| a George Allen, born in 1568, and who emigrated | | | | material is now available on the internet, and |
| from England to the colonies in 1635. I had copies | | | | especially sites like Ancestry, where you can |
| of a number of manuscripts and family histories | | | | search through literally tens of thousands of |
| written so long ago as to be out of copyright, | | | | records for a nominal monthly fee. Sorting out the |
| plus all the trees on Ancestry had it that way. | | | | Ralph Allens could only be done by comparing |
| So I spent about three weeks happily gathering all | | | | numerous records, and making logical deductions |
| the information I could on the Allen family, and | | | | from them. Without doing this, I would have |
| there were a lot of them. George had at least 10 | | | | accepted a false family history. What's the point |
| children, and it seemed like Ralph had even more. | | | | of doing your genealogy if you don't care be sure |
| However, as I went along it became apparent | | | | of its accuracy? |