Margaret, m. bef. 1643 William Parker; resided in CT
I would like to ask for help from somebody with serious interest in a woman, probably named Margaret, but possibly Margery, who supposedly married a William Parker, living in Connecticut in the 1600s and who reportedly died in Saybrook in 1680.
The problem is that there is no hard evidence being cited on various electronic postings, but just a lot of copying and pasting without any critical thought whatsoever.
Somebody submitted to the Latter Day Saints database that her father was a man named Robert Pritchard.There is no citation of evidence, and the LDS website specifically states, "Ancestral File is a collection of genealogical information taken from Pedigree Charts and Family Group Records submitted to the Family History Department since 1978.The information HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED against any official records.Since the information in Ancestral File is contributed, it is the responsibility of those who use the file to VERIFY ITS ACCURACY."(I have added the upper case emphasis.)Oddly, though, no one seems to claim that this Parker couple named any son Robert (as might be expected if Margaret/Margery's father had been a Robert).
Amateur researchers (such as I) have picked up this info and have "republished" it in trees on World Connect (www.rootsweb.com).Rootsweb, while free, is "owned" and maintained by the paid-subscription service, Ancestry.com.Apparently subscribers to Ancestry.com copy the information they find WITHOUT verifying it and then post it again.There are now about 137 trees on World Connect stating that Robert Pritchard was the father of Margaret/Margery, but NOT ONE of them that I have seen cites any PRIMARY historical source.Nobody has independently verified this information, but has simply followed the leader, like lost sheep.The few that do cite a source typically cite the LDS Ancestral File or Ancestry.com or the download of a gedcom they found somewhere.My conclusion is that is pretty much all useless trash.The old computer saying about, "Garbage in, garbage out" pretty much says it all.
So if anyone has a serious desire to find verification inreal sources about Margaret/Margery's siblings and/or parents, please contact me at [email protected].