Tag Archives: Babb

Using GEDMiner for Genealogy Errors

21 Sunday Jun 2026

Posted by in CORRECTIONS, Genealogy, UPDATES

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Follow-up on Pierre Vachet marriage record

Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, Parish Registers, J-Z, Film # 004013147, image 512, FamilySearch.

The St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church (Old Cathedral) register clearly lists two men with the name Pierre Vachet with the identities of their parents. The marriage to Felicite Lacoste is attached to that of the younger Pierre. Issue resolved. Also of note, is two Felicite Lacoste dit Languedoc born in the same year to different parents. The Old Cathedral records will be instrumental when it comes time to research my early Knox County ancestors on my mother’s side.

Indiana Deaths and Burials, 1750-1993, Parish Registers, J-Z, Film # 004013147, image 57, FamilySearch.

Continuing Research on Benjamin Cox descendants from Montgomery County, Ohio

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. As I finish this week’s research, I finally wrap up Amanda’s children and can move on to another family next week. William and Mary’s son Owen died as a small child so I will continue with their daughter Millie Taylor.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Madison, Estill
    • Brunner
      • Ohio: Butler, Preble
    • Woosley
      • Kentucky: Estill, Clark
    • Madden
      • Kentucky: Madison

Error Resolution

A hot topic right now is the tool GEDMiner.com. I tried this out this week and it is massive and it is FREE. I dropped my GEDCOM file in and it quickly analyzed my 28,000 people. A rather lengthy but useful video presentation by GeneaVlogger giving an overview of how to use it can be found on YouTube: GEDMiner tutorial.

The last available update via Ancestry ProTools: I have 5047 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4069 with no documents, 451 other errors.

According to GEDMiner, I have 45 possible duplicates. That’s quite a difference from Ancestry’s count. Some of them were legitimate duplicates. A lot of them could be attributed to how I enter women when I don’t know their maiden names. Many of them are mothers-in-law of distant cousins. I have been making a point of pruning them from the tree. I’m going to focus on “duplicates” this week. Next week I’ll start on unlinked individuals. That list is a bit longer.

My Ancestry error resolutions this week included:

  • a husband of a distant cousin needing a source record. A marriage record was available to fill this void.
  • a 5th great grandfather needing a source record. Unfortunately, I will not be able to fulfill this request since German records are restricted in the Ancestry. I will add a German tag to his record for future reference.
  • a distant cousin needing a source record. Luckily she was born pre-1950 and I was able to add that as a reference.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 28,003 people
End of Week: 27,534 people
Change = -469 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky

Researching William Taylor’s Descendants

14 Sunday Jun 2026

Posted by in Genealogy

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I was able to add a couple DNA matches to the tree this week. I already had a parent of the match in my tree and merely updated that generation and added the most current. One was for my McCullough line which I hope to start delving into late next year. The other was a cousin on my mother’s side of the family.

I am continuing my research on William Taylor’s descendants. His daughter Amanda had quite a few children so this could take some time to complete.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Estill, Madison
      • Ohio: Butler
    • Lee
      • Ohio: Butler
    • Kirby
      • Kentucky: Estill
    • Farthing
      • Kentucky: Estill, Clark
    • Benton
      • Kentucky: Estill
    • Richardson
      • Kentucky: Estill, Madison
    • Brunner
      • Ohio: Butler

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5052 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4074 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • .The wife of a distant cousin from the 19th century on my mother’s side needed a source. A marriage record was available. NOTE: I thought that would resolve the error. WRONG! It would seem that I now have a duplicate issue to work through. The distant cousin was Pierre Vachet. I have two men with that name in my tree. One is a nephew of the other. The hint in Ancestry was from an index and did not include information on the groom’s parents. A marriage index on FamilySearch does include the parents’ names. These records were compiled from records kept by St Francis Xavier Catholic Church. An image of the actual record may be available, however, I am not currently at an Affiliate Library. I’ll look for it when I am there next week. The correct Pierre Vachet is the nephew born in 1815. I can remove the duplicate record from the uncle.
  • A mother-in-law of a distant cousin needed a source. She will be pruned from the tree along with her husband.
  • The wife of a distant cousin from the 20th century needs a maiden name and a source. I found a source for her birth date which will have to do.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,919 people
End of Week: 28,003 people
Change = + 84 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky

Ancestry Research: Tracing Benjamin Cox’s Lineage

07 Sunday Jun 2026

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No significant or interesting DNA matches cropped up this week. I had a few which identified a common ancestor, but nothing that I am working on currently.

Before I get too far down the rabbit hole that is Benjamin Cox, I should define the question and the research approach that I am taking.

THE QUESTION:

Is Benjamin Cox (1746-1841), who was a Revolutionary War veteran residing in Montgomery County, Ohio at the time of his death, the son of Friend Cox and Nancy Schurck?

DOCUMENTED INFORMATION:

Friend Cox did have a son named Benjamin who was listed in his probate records along with three other sons–John, Joseph, and Jonathan. The probate records and associated land records did not provide any additional information identifying Benjamin such as where he was residing when the documents were drawn up.

I have a DNA match (CB) who is a documented descendant of Friend Cox through his son John.

Benjamin Cox from Montgomery County had a large family and a large number of descendants who potentially could share DNA with both myself and CB.

APPROACH:

Attempt to find a shared DNA match between myself and CB that can be documented to Benjamin Cox from Montgomery County. Build out the descendant tree of Benjamin, taking note of surnames and locations of those descendants. Because the common ancestor is beyond the limitations of Ancestry’s ThruLines, the search for common individuals in the shared matches must be performed manually. I am starting with the descendants of Benjamin’s son Jesse because there is a Kentucky death record that connects the two men as father and son and Jesse’s descendant pool is extensive.

LIMITATIONS:

Not everyone connects a tree to their DNA file. About half of our shared matches do not have associated trees.

I started William Taylor last week, but did not get too far. Next up is William Taylor.

  • Jesse Cox + Mary Waugh > John Cox + Mary Parks > Louisa Cox + David Taylor > William F Taylor + Mary Lucy Pearson
    • Taylor
    • Babb
      • Kentucky: Estill
      • Ohio: Butler
      • Illinois: DuPage

Error resolution. The last available update: I have 5040 errors in the tree–527 possible duplicates, 4062 with no documents, 451 other errors.

  • A 5th cousin with no records. Found a marriage record for him.
  • A husband of a distant cousin with no records. I don’t have a first name for him either. Found the missing information in the cousin’s obituary. I need to remember that children, especially daughters, listed in their mother’s obituary aren’t necessarily the children of the named husband.
  • A distant cousin without records. A marriage record was found and her husband’s first name was completed as well.

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,866 people
End of Week: 27,919 people
Change = + 53 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Continue research on Isaac Cox, “The Immigrant” and his wife Susannah Tomlinson.
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek
  • Run newspaper search, especially for articles recounting local history
  • Review the Cox package of information from Sweden
  • Look for documents in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Kentucky