Beware of Ancestry "Historical" Records

This morning I accidentally encountered a marriage record for my 4th great grandfather Thomas Wingo which gave his bride as his sister-in-law, Sarah W. Rucker.

According to Ancestry's information regarding this database, the source of the information is as follows:

Source Information
Yates Publishing. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Original data: This unique collection of records was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles, querie.

Description
This database contains marriage record information for approximately 1,400,000 individuals from across all 50 United States and 32 different countries around the world between 1560 and 1900. These records, which include information on over 500 years of marriages, were extracted from family group sheets, electronic databases, biographies, wills, and other sources.

In other words, this information has been primarily taken from family group sheets, biographies and such, none of which would constitute a primary or desirable source.

The truth of this family connection is that Sarah Rucker was the wife of Thomas Wingo's brother John. Although not all Amelia County, Virginia marriage records are extant, Sarah, daughter of William Rucker, is documented as the wife of John Wingo in records of both Spartanburg County, South Carolina and Amelia County, Virginia.

Deed Book C, p. 289, Spartanburg County, SC
William Rucker for the heirs of Sarah Wingo, Dec'd This indenture made this 15th day of Sept and in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven hundred and Ninety Four - Witnesseth that I William Rucker of the State of South Carolina and the county of Spartenburgh do hereby give and bequeth unto the heirs of the body of my said daughter, Sarah Wingo, Deceased, one Negro woman by the name of Milly amd all the increase of her body to wit: Sim, Ben, Nan, Charles, Becky, Lewis, Rueben, Ady, and Morris. These at present in the keeping of John Wingo Junior in the State of Virginia and County of Amelia which negros I, William Rucker, never intended to dispose of in any other Way but to my said daughter and the heirs of her body for ever. Wherefore, I the said William Rucker do hereby authorize and Impower Sherwood Fowler to demand the said Negros above mentioned and to act in the behalf of the heirs of my said daughter deceased. Signed William Rucker

Deed Book 21, p. 59, Amelia County, VA
We the subscribers this Seventeenth Day of October 1797, Received of John Wingo Sr. of Amelia County two hundred and Thirty five Pounds seventeen shillings in negroes for which Negoes we the Subscribers do hereby agree that neither us or our heirs and will or shall ever put up or lay any claim or demand against the estate of the above mentioned John Wingo Sr or any part thereof. John Wingo Jr, Sherwood Fowler (for Mary Wingo Fowler), Abner Wingo, Churchill Wingo, Jane Wingo, Fanny Wingo Scruggs (Mrs. William Scruggs), Cyrus Seay (for Nancy Wingo Seay).

The maiden name of Sarah, the wife of Thomas Wingo, is unknown but autosomal DNA supports the belief that she was probably a member of the Joel Meador family of Amelia County. It is no small wonder that there is so much incorrect information across the internet regarding Sarah, wife of Thomas Wingo, Jr., when Ancestry is disseminating the false information as a historical record.

Wingo Ancestor - Mary Holt

The mother of Jerman Jeduthan Wingo of Graves County, Kentucky was Mary Holt, daughter of Shadrack Holt and Judith Foster of Nottoway County, Virginia. Mary married Thomas Wingo sometime before September of 1800 when they executed a deed for land on Flat Creek in Nottoway County to her parents. Thomas Wingo had been associated with Shadrack Holt in Nottoway County deeds since 1796 when Shadrack and his son John had conveyed this same fifty-three acre tract to Thomas. Sadly all of the early marriage records of Nottoway County were either vandalized or burned by union forces during the civil war so there is no record of their marriage.

For many years there was great confusion because two Mary Holts married into the Wingo family. On the 23rd of November, 1783, Thomas Wingo's older brother William married Mary Holt. Obviously the Mary Holt born in 1778 was too young to have been the individual who married William in 1783 but this duplication of names confused many Wingo researchers for a very long time. The mystery was finally resolved by researching the Holt family. The Mary who married William in Amelia County in 1783 was found to be the younger sister of Shadrack Holt. When they married in 1783, her mother Mary Holt, widow of Richard Holt, gave consent for the marriage indicating that she was underage and born after about 1765. William Wingo's step-father John Foster signed the bond for the marriage.

As the county designations changed in the Amelia County area, William Wingo was found in the tax records of Prince Edward County in 1783 and after Nottoway County was formed in 1788, he was recorded in the tax records there in 1791. Sometime before May of 1792, Mary Holt Wingo, wife of William, died, for he married Fanny Shepherd in Prince Edward County on the 8th of May 1792. Shortly after their marriage, William, Fanny and the three young children born to he and Mary Holt Wingo, left Virginia migrating to Spartanburg County, South Carolina as his brother Obediah had done a few years earlier.

It is unlikely that any of these families actually moved from Amelia County. The area that became Nottoway County was originally Nottoway Parish of Amelia County. After the formation of Nottoway, Shadrack Holt is no longer found in the records of Amelia County and all historical records until his death in 1801 are in Nottoway County.

To add to the confusion caused by two Marys of the Amelia County Holt family marrying two Wingo sons, Ancestry.com's system has repeatedly listed "hints" suggesting a Mary Holt, daughter of a Samuel Holt and Mary Rowe of New Haven, Connecticut as a wife to Thomas Wingo. I just found that of 34 individuals in Ancestry with Thomas Wingo in their family trees, 15 of those 34 list Mary Holt of New Haven, Connecticut as his wife with one other listing her birth in Tennessee. For anyone interested in genealogy, an understanding of United States geography is a must.

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There is a wealth of information regarding our Holt family who came to St. Mary's, Maryland by 1646 and from there spread into Virginia and other southern states at the Holt Family site - A Journey to Christmasville.
UPDATE - I'm sorry but that wonderful Holt site has disappeared from the internet. If anyone is interested in more information on the Holt family, please email me.