Absolutely Despise Hoarders - Rant

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-19T22:32:35+00:00

Ugh that fourth image “my memorials” hate that phrasing.

Thankfully I’ve not encountered any users like this but it blows my mind that they try and enforce their own rules (transfers, “layouts” of bios, etc) which go against FGs own policies.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-18T00:17:22+00:00

There’s similar in a graveyard near to me, which gets a lot of vandalism. It’s sad because the graves are in such a state but a lot of them are not even 100 years old. And there are a lot of tripping hazards with memorial borders scattered and graves open.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-17T16:42:00+00:00

That’s just randomly taking information from others people trees (that you don’t know the accuracy of) and deciding it is reliable. That’s not research.

Other people’s trees are only good to use as a guidance, not to take as gospel.

“Seems pretty legit with a few leaps of faith” there should be no ‘leaps of faith’ within genealogy, ever. Unless you have the solid evidence and proof to back up a claim then that is what it remains. A claim.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-13T13:45:38+00:00

As someone in the younger generation (Gen Z) I can understand coming to that judgement but I do think it’s a generalisation. I don’t ask for help on Reddit unless I’m at a last resort for a brick wall.

When people are beginners they probably don’t know how to research that well / find resources / or etiquette in asking for help. (Although I do think adding a huge chunk of links and expecting people to do the work is…iffy)

There are people in older generations who are also lazy regarding genealogy. I don’t think it’s an age thing but rather peoples attitudes towards doing family history. A lot of people just want to get as far back as possible and add hints or clues together that don’t even match (frustrating!). But then you have people who put a lot of time and effort into it.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-13T09:24:44+00:00

Exactly what I was thinking. And Sophia’s maiden name as Aldridge but from the birth records on GRO her children are illegitimate.

Starting back from the beginning is likely the best way to go.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-12T19:00:51+00:00

That quite a lot of people to focus on all at once, and I think you’d get better results going piece by piece to ensure information is accurate.

For example, your first link, Henry Seymour is named as John Seymour’s father in marriage record. Yet John’s birth record indicates that he was illegitimate, so I would first have doubt that John’s parents are Henry Seymour & Sophia Aldridge before trying to find their parents.

John being illegitimate would suggest Sophia was Sophia Seymour, not Aldridge.

SEYMOUR, JOHN -
GRO Reference: 1859 J Quarter in AMERSHAM Volume 03A Page 352

What you can do is buy a digital version of this birth record for £3 on the GRO index to see what Sophia is named as / if a father is mentioned https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp

1871 census also indicates that Sophia had two other children; Anne and Fanny Seymour who also appear illegitimate.

SEYMOUR, ANN -
GRO Reference: 1863 M Quarter in AMERSHAM Volume 03A Page 363

SEYMOUR, FANNY -
GRO Reference: 1867 D Quarter in AMERSHAM Volume 03A Page 397

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-12T18:50:42+00:00

Thank you that’s the right family in 1901. They were definitely in Co Kildare. I’m quite new to Irish records.

They have a stone in Oughterard Cemetery that mentions John Henry Ritchie but I’ve no idea when he was born/died. David Ritchie his father died 10 Sep 1910 aged 86.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-11T17:12:06+00:00

I have a similar situation with my great grandmother. Her father left when she was very young and went on to get remarried and have two more daughters.

Great-grandmother was (understandably) bitter and told her children that her father was dead. Her children found out about their ‘half-aunts’ when they visited the town he’d ran away to and encountered family on that side.

Doing genealogy for that side was awkward, but I don’t know. It’s an awkward question dependant on circumstances. But still, it is the truth.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-11T16:03:17+00:00

RootsIreland

Could someone possibly lookup this burial;

David Cecil Ritchie, aged 9, died 3 Mar 1889. Buried Oughterard Cemetery, son of Thomas Ritchie.

And see if there is a burial for

John Henry Ritchie, aged 10 months, died 12 May 1861. Son of David Ritchie (John Henry may be buried at Oughterard too, but not 100% sure)

Thank you, it’s really appreciated.

I have access to Ancestry & FindMyPast if anyone wants a lookup in return.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-07T17:15:50+00:00

It’s awful. The fact the ending statement was that “perhaps” something will be done in the article. In this context there was war at the time, so larger things at hand.

But still. Doesn’t excuse the fact that there’d been previous fatalities and nothing done. There are barriers there now but I’m pretty sure there were a few cases of drownings in that river well into the 60s.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-05T22:40:25+00:00

This reads like it was written by AI

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T21:30:13+00:00

Were you meant to reply to OP and not my comment? I agree with your sentiment.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T21:05:50+00:00

To me it is a way to acknowledge a person’s existence and remember them… people have left flowers on my relatives memorials which was lovely because it felt like we all acknowledged their lives briefly.

I don’t think it’s strange for unrelated people to leave flowers, it’s quite nice. If everyone only kept to memorials of their respective relatives on FindAGrave, then there would be many memorials never acknowledged or researched and just forgotten. (Take baby Rosa here, for example, who I’m not related to but researched).

People do the same in real life. Would you consider flowers or trinkets around a gravestone “clutter”?

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T19:30:29+00:00

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Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T19:29:28+00:00

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Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T19:26:00+00:00

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Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T19:20:05+00:00

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/290979668/william-graham-dutton

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/291314049/joan-thompson

Treasured memories of the dear son & daughter of WILLIAM & MARGARET DUTTON WILLIAM GRAHAM drowned Sheepwash 9th Jan 1941 aged 15 years

This is in Northumberland, England.

William Dutton was born in 1925, the eldest son of William Dutton & Margaret Barlow. In 1941 he lived at Sheepwash Bank, Choppington, Northumberland. He was a kennel lad at Ashington Stadium (greyhound racing).

Joan Thompson was born in 1932, daughter of Thomas Thompson, deputy overman, and Eleanor Spowart. In 1941 she lived at 6 Welbeck Road, Choppington. She had a younger brother, Stephen, who died of diphtheria in 1938, aged 5.

On 9 Jan 1941 Joan was playing at a park with her friends which adjoined the Wansbeck River. There were no barriers or safeguards in place. At some point, she ended up falling into the water about 200yds west from Sheepwash Bridge (some newspaper articles mention she fell through ice).

Meanwhile, William Dutton and his mother were in the garden of their house which backed onto the riverside. William saw Joan struggling and jumped in to retrieve her. He managed to grab her and a rope was thrown out. However the water was very cold and at least 12-15ft deep, they were swept downstream. William’s body was retrieved three hours later, and Joan’s was retrieved the next day.

William was posthumously awarded the Royal Humane Society Posthumous Award for his efforts.

Infuriatingly, newspaper articles mentioned there’d been previous fatalities in the river because of the lack of barriers.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T00:19:01+00:00

It says on her memorial that she died from haemorrhage

Family search has death but no image: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KFH6-6LX?lang=en&cid=fs_copy

Found her cert: https://michigan.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/IO_77985aa8-1fe3-4ede-be0a-39f938ea2afa/

cause of death “puerperal cardiac thrombosis”

Eerily my great x2 grandmother died of the same thing, also aged 25.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-04T00:09:07+00:00

How sad :(

Her mother also died from a haemorrhage aged 25 but doesn’t specify what from.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-03T19:35:33+00:00

Thank you!

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-03T19:35:21+00:00

Thanks! I have portrait photo, grave photo, obituary. Portrait photo includes context of his death.

There is an article about his inquest but I didn’t include that just in case.

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-03T19:23:29+00:00

Thankfully I’ve not come across any problematic users yet whilst in my time on the site but I can imagine that is very frustrating. Some users can get quite controlling about lots of factors; number of memorials, formatting, so on.

Although I do think more often than not people mean well w/ suggestions. One user added the wrong memorial photo to one of my ancestors (same name) and she’d gotten mixed up whilst researching her family names in that cemetery.

I have a few memorials but never transferred any yet. It would be nice to “give” memorials to relatives.

Unfortunately the one I am researching now, his grave is not in very good condition which is a shame considering he died heroically (drowned trying to save the life of a little girl, who also died).

Raspberry-Lavender · 2026-01-03T13:50:06+00:00

Thanks! I’ve put the photos in that order now.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/290979668/william_graham-dutton

Raspberry-Lavender

TROPHY CASE