Genealogy Chat

Just to say, I emailed Goons yesterday at about 8pm our time. I received a reply from the Registrar today at about 4pm our time! I never expected such a fast response! He says that he has written to the leader of the study group, and I have to contact the Registrar again if I have not received a reply in 4 weeks. As he says, this always assumes that my letter was delivered and not lost in the post. We wait and see!

OC and Gwyneth, Thanks for that!! You're confirming what I thought I should do. I had decided to contact GOONS tomorrow (ie, Monday!), when hopefully my brain will be a little livelier than right now. The only other contact I have had with One-Name-Study was 2 or 3 years ago when this person's email address was given ....................... that was one of the occasions when it bounced right back to me as 'undeliverable', so I just did a little curse about people who change email addresses, and left it at that. But this is getting more serious! Sorry for the late reply .................. we moved the computer into another room so had a whole new set-up to do, including moving the cable connection via a hole in the wall! Then daughter and husband arrived for Sunday dinner, complete with a car full of stuff that they are returning to us (or handing over to us) after their year here. More will be arriving over the next week! This year has sure gone fast. J will be sleeping here next Sunday night as she has to get the 2 cats in their crate to the airport by 5 am, ready for a 7am cargo flight across country to Nova Scotia (they will be picked up by her sister-in-law). We are all hoping they have a better flight over there than they did coming out here last year. Thanks again. OC ........ I'm sure going to miss you! Sylvia

I agree with OC. As a Guild member he has an obligation to reply within a reasonable time. The GOONS site says that the guild should be contacted and they will take up the case on your behalf. They request dates that letters were sent etc.....see their site for details. Gwyn

Sylvia I would report him to GOONS. There is no point in him being a member of GOONS if he is not going to pass on his information to ANYONE who wants it. His ego shouldn't come into it. You do not have to tell GOONS that you are related to him, and indeed you only know that by hearsay. I would certainly have expected you to have received a response from him by now - my contact with GOONS members has usually resulted in a reply within seven days. OC

Things get murkier!! I have still not had a reply from the leader of the One-Name-Study ...... and think it is about time I contacted someone about it. BUT I have also made contact through this site with someone who has informed me that this person is indeed my second cousin .................. not only that but he plagiarised much of his older brother's work on the family back around 1995 and has been claiming it as his own ever since. It is the same person that I have been attempting to make contact with for the last 3 years .......... so may be it is not surprising that he has never replied to me as I probably have the proof that he has been claiming to have done research that has been done by others! Now what do I do??

Di, It is a puzzle as to why people would put up their contact information, and then not respond to others who contact them. To be generous to them, I would like to think that .................. maybe they changed their email address or postal address after posting it/them on the web, and have not remembered to correct all such entries (or don't remember all the places it/they were/are listed)? .................. maybe they have lost interest in tracing their family .................. maybe they've died, and no-one else knows what was on the web or in the public domain. I know my husband/family don't know all the places/people I have contacted through sites like GR. Am am I being too generous??????????

Like Jay, I would love contact from others who might be able to correct details in my tree. I seem to be the only one who has not 'just started' searching, but I do love to have my work confirmed. I love to exchange data and stories last week spent a wonderful morning with my second cousin who knew very little about our joint family, but she had photos I had not seen and so I had some she had never seen before. Also, just recently I had to delete a branch when I had William and Maria confused with William and Mary. I also have a pet hate of those who put their contact details up on the internet and then not bother to answer polite enquiries !! I have sent several emails, and even a snail mail letter to one man in particular, and really don't understand why he bothered to publicise his name and address in connection with our family. Di

Hi everyone, I am sorry for the late response .... we have been away for the weekend attending a family wedding. Thank you all for your responses. I was wondering what a 'reasonable time' was, especially as I am overseas. So I guess I should be patient for a few more weeks?! ....... but have my letter with all details ready to send to the GOONS! I am feeling so frustrated as this is me and my generation that they have wrong!!! They have the chance to correct wrong information while I am still alive! I also have contact with some of my remaining cousins (some have died) .............. and information from these could extend the 'tree' forward another 2 (or even 3) generations as these cousins have grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sooooooooooooooooooo ........ why doesn't this person in charge of the One Name Study seem to want to know?? I believe, without any firm evidence, that it is the same person who has not answered several letters that I sent to a home address that was once listed on GOONS, and elsewhere. Plus, I also think it is the same person to whom I have sent several emails, only to have all except the first one bounce back to me as undeliverable almost immediately. He has the same name as the son of one of my male cousins ......... but this name is common among the Cadds, so that is not proof that he is indeed my second cousin. So far as I know I have never met the second cousin, and last met the father over 40 years ago (about the time I left the UK). It makes me wonder if he is carrying on a family feud with me for some reason that is unknown to me. I do know that the second cousin is not on speaking terms with at least 2 of his 4 siblings. But I don't have contact with any one of them! Cadd 'feuds' are legendary!

If a GOON doesn't answer questions then it looks as if they are in breach of the agreement made with the Guild when they registered a One Name Study. From the website.... When you register a surname, we will ask you to agree in writing to the two conditions shown here: 1. You must agree to collect all references to your registered sumame(s) on a worldwide basis, and strive towards the goal of establishing a substantial body of worldwide data, in particular for countries where the name is relatively significant and where sources are readily available. A study restricted to one country, part of a country, or the descendants of a particular individual, does not meet our criteria. >>>>2.You must agree to deal with all reply-paid enquiries and emails that you receive relating to your registered surname(s). We would ask those interested in registering a surname to consider seriously whether they have the resources, especially of time, either individually or as member of a group, to gather, store and collate the necessary material and to respond to a possible multitude of enquiries. Chris

Janet Yes, I know how you feel. I would LOVE someone to argue with me, or ask me how I know such and such. But they never do, they swallow it whole - that is, those who haven't already got into the WRONG version and refuse to listen to the evidence. After all, I could be wrong and I am always willing to look at contradictory evidence. But I have yet to be offered any, other than 'I got this from X X, who has a website, it is very good'. As for the GOONS thing, I would probably wait eight weeks, seeing as it is overseas, then get in touch with the Guild. Yes, GOONS are all manned by volunteers, but why set yourself up as a GOON if you cannot be bothered to answer queries. OC

I would simply love someone to point out a few errors in MY research. I am sick and tired of what I've sent on to other people in turn being copied and passed on to others, WITHOUT anyone ever going through it and checking it, despite me saying I welcome comments, questions, corrections. (This is usually data on an extended family, so it isn't all verified with certs) I would love someone to actually read it and say hang on - that isn't who he married; I have the cert and it was so and so. I welcome the opportunity of SHARING research and exchanging ideas, but sadly, this rarely happens. As OC has pointed out, it just gets duplicated and then you have 100 people all claiming it is the info THEY all have in common, so it MUST be right. Jay

Sylvia On the Goons site in the section 'Contacting the Guild' it does say.... If you have difficulty contacting a Guild member, or receive no response to your reply-paid enquiry after a reasonable time, please contact the Guild Registrar who will attempt to take the matter up on your behalf. Please supply the dates on which you sent letters or e-mails and your own postal address for a response. Our enquiries may take some time so please be patient with us. All Guild officers are volunteers; we all do this for pleasure - our own and that of other family history folk such as you! The only problem is they don't say what is considered a 'reasonable time'. Chris

I do have a contact on here - quite a valuable one since my earliest research - but I have come to realise he never updates his tree. His great-grandma and my great grandma were sisters. As mine was married in 1888 and continued having kids till 1906, I know for definite that there were two more born after the 1901 census. (One was my own grandma.) Confusingly, the eldest of these children Charlotte Elizabeth was 2 in 1891 and went by her second name. By 1901 Charlotte was down as her real first name because she had a sister called Eliza Annie. So my contact thinks there were 9 kids when there were only 8. And my maternal grandad is a constant headache. When I began, I believed his dad to be born in Sussex (as his name was a common one in the area) but him to be born in Notts. Even though I have contacted my old contacts - who could see by checking the BMDs for themselves - to tell them this correct information (which I now have birth certificates etc as evidence for) they still don't modify their information, which - I hate to say it - makes some look a bit like the infamous 'name collector' brigade. I don't see the point in having your information on this site - which has an easy-to-change format when things are wrong (or even spelt wrong) - when you don't modify your information. I have built up two erroneous branches of my tree in the past but removed all the wrong bits when I discovered the real line.

How long would one anticipate waiting for a reply from the leader of a One Name Study group? I mailed the letter to Dennis Cadd on May 30th. There has been no reply to date .......................... 4 weeks!

Jenny, Neighbours indeed!! My daughter has been living near 8th and Lonsdale in N V for the last 8 or 9 months ....... they go back to NS in August. Sylvia

Well Sylvia, you’re almost a neighbour! I’m in Ambleside. It’s been a very long time since I bought international reply coupons and they’re certainly a lot more expensive now. Enjoy your holiday and I hope you come home to a reply from Mr Cadd. Jenny

BTW ....................what a rip-off! The One-Name-Study group requires that you send either a reply-paid envelope if you live in the UK or 3 International Reply Coupons if you live abroad. I stopped by the Post Office this afternoon. Three International Coupons cost a total of $10.50 ........ or around £4 UK I'm sure it doesn't cost £4 to send an overseas letter from the UK to Canada ..........................does it?????? Anyway, I will mail off the letter tomorrow. Then we go away for 2 weeks, so I hope to hear something from Mr Dennis Cadd by the time we return home around June 16. Thanks for all your advice, Sylvia

It is really easy to get our ancestors wrong by making an asusmption that turns out to be incorrect! But in this case I am still alive and know who my father was ........... at least, I think I do!lol!!

I never mind being told that I have the wrong information as long as they have proof, for years I thought my ggrandfathers parents were Samuel and Matilda Onions as they had a son called John Alfed it wasn't until someone pointed out to me that he didn't have a son called Alfred that I found the right parents. Two brothers both called their sons John Alfred !!! Chris.

Old Crone is right again (hey she always is!) There are too many people out there prepared to accept the easiest solution that comes along without proper verification. Stick to your guns, do your OWN research. Check it against others, take their advice on alternatives and check that too. At the end of the day you want to have YOUR family tree, not somebody elses incorrect version of what it might be. And if you only get back 3 generations, and you know it is right (or as near damn as you can, cos none of us can be absolutely certain), that is far better than 10 generations that you have no proof of at all. Margaret