robertmackayclan

I went back and re-read parts of an earlier discussion on the forum about our Robert Mackay's alleged connection with Capt. Hugh Mackay.

I looked at my comments regarding records in the LDS system. It looked as though as I was putting down the entire LDS genealogical system altogether but that was never my intention.

My intention has been and always is to urge people to use caution when they are viewing printed genealogies, whether they be in books or on the internet. I don't want to outright dismiss something unless of course it was totally fabricated altogether.

The LDS recordkeepers have copied into their files, literally millions of documents pertaining to a vast array of families. These I feel are worth trusting. But, when viewing the family trees I will again urge that people be cautious about what they see.

The information might be true but then again there could be errors present.

I have witnessed, first-hand, people blindly accepting what they saw in print as being gospel truth quite a few times and used to think that way myself. I guess that's the reason I overreacted in my criticism.

I'm basically interested in knowing the true history about our family and where our Robert Mackay Sr. really came from.

He may indeed be the son of a Hugh Mackay but there has to be some kind of concrete proof to establish who his parents really were. So far, to my knowledge, that hasn't happened yet but I'm hopeful that it will soon.

I've been in contact with another one of our family who is also researching our origins and am interested in seeing what she has found.

Also, I know through the internet of a man of Tuscarora Indian ancestry who went to Britain to do research on documents pertaining to the Tuscarora people. While there I asked him to search for anything which might pertain to our Robert Mackay family and the early Quakers of Scotland just to see if he might find something. I'm waiting to hear any news on this as well.

I'm glad to see this discussion going and hope to see more folks make use of this forum.

Yes there is a very big different between the L.D.S. Computer Bank and copies of original records which members of the general public can rent through any L.D.S. library. The first is free & on line in your home and the latter you will have to spend some money & time away from home. Guess which one more people would like to use !!

I think there is plenty of blame to pass around on the issue of Computers & Genealogy. I think people in general are lazy it is easier to just view a computer with all the information printed and presented so clearly. I have received letters over the years that a lot of people do not want to go the trouble of viewing film. Well that's there the real information is found !!!

I believe the word is really getting out concerning the L.D.S. COMPUTER BANK. I am now hearing the phrase from people "but that a L.D.S. record" or "I just found in in the L.D.S. system". The people in Salt Lake are just hurting their own worth as a genealogy library, by allowing their computer bank to continue as it is on line or in their libraries. It is my understanding from the L.D.S. library here in VA, that there has been a system change in Salt Lake, UT. No longer are they matching up various computer disk with the information already in the bank. Their change of heart, however, will not fix the incorrect information now in their system.

Next Tuesday I will check out a film number #2034711-- someone has submitted to the temple for sealing etc.......Robert McKay as the son of Hugh McKay & Jane Dunbar. I believe I know the who & I do hope documentation must be stated on the form/film. We will see.

Second item now found in connection with Robert Mackay/McKay of VA, according to the L.D.S. computer bank:

Shirley Jean Stwalley
101 Rainbow Drive #2354
Livingston, TX 77351

has submitted a four spouse of Robert McKay--Ann Robinson.

Really hate to write her (waste of 33 cents), most likely she will response that, she did not submit that information in that way. We will see.

I went back and re-read parts of an earlier discussion on the forum about our Robert Mackay's alleged connection with Capt. Hugh Mackay.

I looked at my comments regarding records in the LDS system. It looked as though as I was putting down the entire LDS genealogical system altogether but that was never my intention.

My intention has been and always is to urge people to use caution when they are viewing printed genealogies, whether they be in books or on the internet. I don't want to outright dismiss something unless of course it was totally fabricated altogether.

The LDS recordkeepers have copied into their files, literally millions of documents pertaining to a vast array of families. These I feel are worth trusting. But, when viewing the family trees I will again urge that people be cautious about what they see.

The information might be true but then again there could be errors present.

I have witnessed, first-hand, people blindly accepting what they saw in print as being gospel truth quite a few times and used to think that way myself. I guess that's the reason I overreacted in my criticism.

I'm basically interested in knowing the true history about our family and where our Robert Mackay Sr. really came from.

He may indeed be the son of a Hugh Mackay but there has to be some kind of concrete proof to establish who his parents really were. So far, to my knowledge, that hasn't happened yet but I'm hopeful that it will soon.

I've been in contact with another one of our family who is also researching our origins and am interested in seeing what she has found.

Also, I know through the internet of a man of Tuscarora Indian ancestry who went to Britain to do research on documents pertaining to the Tuscarora people. While there I asked him to search for anything which might pertain to our Robert Mackay family and the early Quakers of Scotland just to see if he might find something. I'm waiting to hear any news on this as well.

I'm glad to see this discussion going and hope to see more folks make use of this forum.

According to the L.D.S. Computer Bank, you can order from the following person, the family history of Robert MacKay as son of Hugh McKay on computer disk

Mina M. Ostergard
1296 E. Gibson Road
E-135
Woodland, CA 95776

Yes there is a very big different between the L.D.S. Computer Bank and copies of original records which members of the general public can rent through any L.D.S. library. The first is free & on line in your home and the latter you will have to spend some money & time away from home. Guess which one more people would like to use !!

I think there is plenty of blame to pass around on the issue of Computers & Genealogy. I think people in general are lazy it is easier to just view a computer with all the information printed and presented so clearly. I have received letters over the years that a lot of people do not want to go the trouble of viewing film. Well that's there the real information is found !!!

I believe the word is really getting out concerning the L.D.S. COMPUTER BANK. I am now hearing the phrase from people "but that a L.D.S. record" or "I just found in in the L.D.S. system". The people in Salt Lake are just hurting their own worth as a genealogy library, by allowing their computer bank to continue as it is on line or in their libraries. It is my understanding from the L.D.S. library here in VA, that there has been a system change in Salt Lake, UT. No longer are they matching up various computer disk with the information already in the bank. Their change of heart, however, will not fix the incorrect information now in their system.

Next Tuesday I will check out a film number #2034711-- someone has submitted to the temple for sealing etc.......Robert McKay as the son of Hugh McKay & Jane Dunbar. I believe I know the who & I do hope documentation must be stated on the form/film. We will see.

Second item now found in connection with Robert Mackay/McKay of VA, according to the L.D.S. computer bank:

Shirley Jean Stwalley
101 Rainbow Drive #2354
Livingston, TX 77351

has submitted a four spouse of Robert McKay--Ann Robinson.

Really hate to write her (waste of 33 cents), most likely she will response that, she did not submit that information in that way. We will see.

Where did this Ann Robinson come from?

I know that Abraham Hollingsworth married an Ann Robinson, according to the Hollingsworth genealogy by J.A. Stewart and other sources but this is a first for me concerning our Robert.

I know of the three confirmed wives from the marriage certificates of some of the children and Robert's will but I don't recall seeing an Ann Robinson.

Regarding the LDS computer bank records. This is a concern of mine as well because of the fact that people take the easy road. I'm not sure how to go about getting folks to take a fresh look at what they see.

Being that the LDS system is managed by volunteers I don't fault them for all of the erroneous data that comes their way. They have no way of knowing off-hand what is correct and what isn't.

Hopefully people will see this website and our comments here and maybe it will cause them to look at printed data with a little more scrutiny.

It's a long shot but every brick building starts with one brick.

I have mailed off a letter to J.A. Stewart. The only hope of finding out how the information was posted to Robert MacKay family unit, is if she responses.

The office in Salt Lake would be no help at all. Because they do not keep the disks send to them to see what was really send.

I am guessing, but I think she will say that's not what she mailed to them and they matched her information/disk incorrectly.

Futhermore, I mailed off a letter to Mina M. Ostergard. I expect that she has just taken off the information found on the L.D.S. computer bank, "deemed" it correct and packaged it as her family history. I have seen the same thing done on Family Web Site on line.

In fact you can order the L.D.S. PAF computer program on line ("free") and then down loan from their bank any information you care to, to save you typing in all the information. Never mind if it is correct !!!

When I have in the pass, pointed out the errors of some people's way, I was told "you take things too seriously".

Well I guess I do, wrong is wrong.

We who are serious about our family history are just going to be continuously dispointed at all the incorrect information now in circulation about the life of Robert Mackay.

And now there is no stopping it.

We might not be able to actually stop misinformation from getting circulated but I'm sure that we can at least stand in the way.

This website can act as a beacon for at least attempting to get the truth and the facts out about our family.

For every person who accepts misinformation on blind faith I'm sure there are those (even in their own branches of the family) who will take the time to actually go back and verify what they are reading. To say "where did they find this out"? "Who sent it to the LDS bank or the World Family Tree?" "How did they uncover this?"

Folks, I put up a warning on the forum some time back that came from Rootsweb, who are probably the largest genealogy based website on the Internet, concerning the World Family Tree. It would be a good idea to read this as well as all of the other items they have to say, particularly conerning an individual by the name of Gustav Anjou. This man was responsible for publishing a number of bogus genealogies.

People gave this man money and in return they got this false genealogy of their family tying them to some illustrious royal past in Europe or some old family mansion. Some of these old estates never really existed to begin with. He just made it up because it sounded good and people bought it because they never wanted to bother with looking for the info. themselves. In otherwords, they got ripped off and didn't even know it until years later when his little scheme was exposed.

According to the L.D.S. Computer Bank, you can order from the following person, the family history of Robert MacKay as son of Hugh McKay on computer disk

Mina M. Ostergard
1296 E. Gibson Road
E-135
Woodland, CA 95776

Check out her site

www.mother.com~minao/genealogy/family_history/
index.html.

her e-mail address minao@mother.com

she has the parents of Robert McKay as Hugh & Jane (Dunbar) MacKay of Scotland.

If I am reading her notes right the documentation for the parentage of Robert McKay of NJ/VA as being Hugh MacKay of Scotland, is the Ancestral Computer File.

Her sources for the information about Hugh & Jane (Dunbar) MacKay and their children, Barbara Nicholson. She is the source also listed in the L.D.S. Computer Bank.

So this is another dead end.

Check out her site

www.mother.com~minao/genealogy/family_history/
index.html.

her e-mail address minao@mother.com

she has the parents of Robert McKay as Hugh & Jane (Dunbar) MacKay of Scotland.

Some of the Job sites that are linked to this website also have that Hugh Mackay connection. I placed a notice on the links page telling viewers that the info. presented on these websites might be different from what we have here. It is my hope that the webmasters of these other sites take a fresh look at the data they have concerning Robert's parentage and ask themselves the same questions I posed earlier.

Perhaps they may revise their files to present the most accurate data concerning Robert Mackay Sr. that they can. It seems to be a pervasive thing with the acceptance of incorrect info. already in printed circulation.

Somehow it's viewed that if it's in print it has to be true when in many cases it isn't. One's research is only as good as the sources he/she has access to. Since I guess they saw the LDS file on the Robert/Hugh connection first I assume they took it for granted that it was accurate.

I hope that people will realize that you have to take what others present with a grain of salt. There may be some truth but it doesn't mean it's all Gospel and undeniably true.

Since one of the other goals I have of this website is to establish links to the websites of other descendants of Robert Mackay Sr. (as well as Jacob Sowers & Isaac Steer) I'm going to add a link to Mina's website. I hope to find more websites done by other descendants as time goes on.

I'm also going to change the notice on the links page to let people know that the Hugh Mackay/Robert Mackay Sr. connection has not been verified and that it's highly unlikely he is the son of this particular Hugh Mackay. This will let readers know when visiting the other Robert Mackay related sites ahead of time that this is the case before they uncover the different Gedcom files that show such a connection.

The late Bill Jobe published in his family newsletter the L.D.S. computer bank information about the parentage of Robert MacKay being Hugh. He said he printed it for further research by others.

He also had the parentage of Anne Brown being the daughter of James Brown. Also printed for further research by others. Well I am sure that it was Francis C. Gill who placed this "gem" in the L.D.S. computer bank.

I know for a fact (I have their letter) Mr. & Mrs. Vernon entered into the L.D.S. computer bank incorrect information printed in the Job/Jobe Journal about our line of Jacob Mckay III. They "deemed" all information in the Job/Jobe Journal as correct.

If I never track down the person who entered the parentage of Robert MacKay as Hugh MacKay, I suspect I will find a person who has paraded his or her opinion as fact.

All of this wasted time could have been saved if Salt Lake had just kept each computer disk that they entered into their system.