Are you sure? Is it this Donald Smith or that Donald Smith?

Experienced genealogists know well the peril of integrating people found in another person's unsourced family tree into their own, and then using that unsourced tree as their source. This is a big red flag, and often creates an endless loop of wrong information. It happens even more now, with the explosion in the popularity of genealogy as a hobby. I go out of our way to always avoid this black hole.

Now, imagine how much further complication is introduced when you're working with a name like Donald Smith. Well, I don't have to imagine, because my 3rd great grandfather is Donald Smith (abt 1774-bef 1841).

not my 4th great grandparents

Some Ancestry trees are linking my Donald to an unrelated couple as being his parents. Because of this, with the introduction of the otherwise fabulous Ancestry ThruLines earlier this year, I'm now seeing a Donald Smith, farmer, Cnoc of Croughly in Banffshire and a Janet Stuart as being my potential 4th great grandparents. But they're just not. And my Donald is not their son. There are no source documents attached to the trees in which these people are found, except for "Ancestry trees".

Now, I'm the first to admit that I don't know who my Donald Smith's parents are, but they're definitely not Donald Smith, farmer at Cnoc of Croughly and Janet Stuart. Their son is another Donald Smith, specifically, one Donald Smith, who was born and baptized on 14 Sep 1775 at Kirkmichael, Banffshire. There's a baptismal record saying so. This Donald Smith married another Smith (I know!), Margaret Smith, who was born and baptized in 1779 also in Kirkmichael, Banffshire. As a matter of interest, this Margaret Smith's mother was also a Smith. This Donald and Margaret had a family of at least seven children:

Cnoc -- or Knock -- of Croughly was a place in Banffshire in Scotland, I learned from Scotland's Places. In the 18th century, this and Ballcorach in Kirkmichael, Banffshire, where the above family were born, would have been a fair distance from Tulloch, in Strathspey, Inverness-shire.

I wrote about the children of my 3rd great grandparents, Donald Smith (who was a stonemason) and Margaret Davidson here but here's a chart too.

I know these are small images, but I use these to illustrate the overlapping similar names in both families. Aside from the fact that both families are led by couples named Donald and Margaret, there are Anns, Donalds and Peters in both families.

Naturally, the similar names would lead some to think that they've got the right family when they come across Donald Smith and Margaret Smith of Ballcorach in Kirkmichael, Banffshire. But this is not the right family. Here's what Scotland's Places says about Ballcorach's location.

Scotland's Places - about Ballcorach, Banffshire

And here's the description of Tulloch:

Scotland's Places - about Tulloch, Inverness-shire 

I have a paper trail of my Smiths, including baptismal, marriage and death records and censuses. I've also found a similar paper trail for the children of Donald Smith and Margaret Smith. These are two, separate and distinct families living in adjacent counties but not close, as the crow flies, as they say.

The kicker that the Balcorach Smiths are not the parents of my 3rd great grandfather, Donald Smith of Tulloch was finding the Will of Donald Smith of Ballcorach. His bequests to his children by name did it for me, in terms of confirmation.

With special thanks again to Scottish genealogist Jenny Blain for her much appreciated research assistance and on the ground knowledge too.

The never ending story continues....




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