For a little fun, I decided to write something different with this blog post, opening up my imagination. I wonder sometimes if our ancestors are having conversations like this. Well, here goes . . . .

Jake: Bettie Jean, come here! Take a look at this!

Bettie: Whatcha want, Jake! I am busy helping great grandma Carrie plant these flowers.

Jake: But you gotta see this!

Bettie walks over.

Jake: Look at this!

Bettie: I see that you are watching over your great great grandson Lorenzo today.

Jake: Yes, he’s on Ancestry.com working on his family tree.

Bettie: Aaaaawh, that’s so nice!

Jake: But look. He got you as his great great grandmother.

Bettie: No, his great granddaddy Walter Lee was your son who I raised. Is there something that can reveal that to him?

Jake: Yes! But he ain’t trying to find other sources. And he is basically copying this error from other trees.

Bettie: What! Say it ain’t so! Poor, Julie Mae! Don’t go over there and tell her. She would be fit to be tide! Her descendants ain’t realizing she is their ancestor because of all of that clicking and copying on Ancestry.com! No thorough examination! No verifying! Nothing!

Jake: I know, Bettie. All he gotta do is read the 1900 census closely, the actual image, every column! Look, Bettie. Column 10 is for how many years married. You remember those times the census takers came by the house, right?

Bettie: Yes, I sure do. Every 10 years! They were all up in our business!

Jake: Look, he wrote down that we had been married for 11 years. And that you were the mother of 4 children with 4 living. Columns 11 and 12. See, Bettie.

Bettie: Yeah, and I already had Cecelia, Hampton, Mary Lee, and Billy.

Jake: Yes, and see, they are noted in the household, along with my two oldest children, Jake Jr. and Walter Lee, his great grandfather. Jake Jr. was 17, and Walter Lee was 14.

Bettie: Maybe he got confused because Walter Lee reported that I was his mother on his Social Security application. So, I can see that, though. I was the only mother Walter Lee knew, because Julie Mae died when he was 2 years old. And then, we got married a year later.

Jake: Yeah, I know!

Bettie: But I always told Jake Jr. and Walter Lee about their biological mother because me and Julie Mae were friends. She is such a sweet woman. And look how much fun we have up here together. She is so thankful that I raised her two boys. They turned out mighty fine.

Jake: You were a great mother to all the kids. Maybe that’s why Walter Lee reported you as his mother on his Social Security document.

Jake: But look, can’t Lorenzo see that something is off. It says that we had been married for 11 years and his great granddaddy Walter Lee is 14. And there are 6 children in the house, and you were reported as having 4 children.

Bettie: Many folks just glad to add a name to their tree, when it’s wrong as two left shoes! No wonder folks up here are mad sometimes. They ain’t being claimed and documented. The wrong person is taking their spot.

Jake: Me and Julie Mae even went to the courthouse and filled out a marriage record. We got married in October 1881. Then, Jake Jr. was born in 1883, and Walter Lee was born in 1886. Julie Mae died and came up here in 1888. And then, you and I got married in 1889. Both of my marriage records are even on FamilySearch.org now! I’m the only Jacob Harkness in Anderson County!

Bettie: Don’t worry bout it, Jake. Maybe one day, someone will tell him about the error in his tree. Or maybe, Lorenzo will finally do more research! And thinking!

Jake: Let’s hope so. See, look at this. He and Julie Mae’s baby brother’s great-granddaughter are sharing 128 centimorgans of DNA, and Lorenzo don’t know how they are related. And AncestryDNA’s Thru Lines ain’t picking up nothing because he got you as Walter Lee’s mother, and your parents as Walter Lee’s grandparents. The answer is right there if he takes time to look closer.

Bettie: Well, we gotta go ahead and tell Julie Mae. Grab that box of tissue for me to take. Maybe she will appear to him in one of his dreams. This mess is a growing problem down there.

Jake: Well, my great great granddaddy Hamp wants me and Cousin Pleasant to go walking with him today. I gotta take my mind off this! Lorenzo, get it together!

The End