There's always something new to be found

Genealogy research is a never ending pursuit.  I doubt that anyone can say they have "finished".  They might have gone as far as they can go with currently available and accessible records, but there is always something new to be found.  Especially if you are researching many lines - both paternal and maternal as I am.  And, three basic families - my own, my first husband's and my second husband's.
My late first husband, and therefore my daughter, has an ancestor named James DANIELS.  Shortly before my husband died we discovered, thanks to the research of another descendant, that James had been transported to Australia from India.  India - because he was in the British Army in India and was involved in what was described to me as "an unfortunate incident" in which a man was shot.  Without further information I surmised that it might have been a duel.  Several years after arriving in Australia he married another convict by the name of Mary RILEY.
Over the years I have been corresponding with quite a few fellow researchers on the DANIELS' line.  It has not been without controversy.  To begin with, one daughter of James and Mary's son Edward was said by some researchers to have been married twice - within a few months.  Well, she married one man, and then had a child by another some months later, and eventually married the second man many years later, with one of their grown sons as best man! I'm not sure that the whole story of the supposed first marriage has been uncovered yet.
Then there was another daughter who was linked to a particular man, but the birth registration of the first child never quite jelled with the mother being the daughter of Edward and Sarah.  Eventually that "union" seemd to be discounted by most researchers.
Then there was Sarah Ana Young DANIELS, another grandaughter of James and Mary - who, according to a number of people, including direct descendants, was married to George MacLENNAN.  This was despite the fact that Sarah MacLENNAN's death certificate listed her mother as an Ann COLLIER, and her father as James DANIELS when it should have been Sarah Sophia MOORE and Edward DANIELS.  Now it transpires that Sarah's marriage certificate clearly states that her mother was Ann COLLIER and her father James.  This negates the belief that the death certificate information was in error.  Even the most reluctant of researchers has had to concede that a Sarah DANIELS did marry George MacLENNAN - just not "our" Sarah Ana Young DANIELS.  Strangely enough, the researcher who finally found the proof was the same researcher who provided a photo of Sarah DANIELS years ago, and had labelled it as "Sarah Ana Young DANIELS, my grandmother". Another descendant swears black and blue that Sarah Ana Young DANIELS is one and the same as Elizabeth Young DANIELS - I do not believe that there is any evidence for this being fact.  He is basing it on the fact that both girls have Young as a Christian name.

James DANIELS

Now there is even more controversy!  Nigel, who lives in England, is descended from James DANIELS and his Indian family!!!  Nigel has labouriously studied original documents and LDS films to trace the military career of his ancestor James, and had discovered that he married a woman named Hannah, and had three daughters with her.  In doing so he had also discovered information about James' trial for Murder, in Madras.  No duel - he shot a policeman!  James was sentenced to death and Nigel had duly entered his death date as 1821.  End of story.  However, it wasn't until Nigel stumbled across my account of the descendants of James DANIELS on my Branches and Twigs wiki, that he realised I was talking about his 4 x great grandfather.  You see, what Nigel hadn't discovered was that James' death sentence was commuted to transportation for life.
Of course this caused a little consternation among some researchers who were sceptical about the two men being one and the same.  But Nigel had transcribed entries from the LDS films which show: "Born 24 Aug 1814; Baptised 3 December 1814 Elizabeth Daniells daughter of Corporal James and Hannah Daniells  of 80th Regiment" and

"Born 1 Feb 1820 ; Baptised 21 June 1821   Jane Catherine Daniels daughter of James Daniels Sergeant HM 69th and Hannah his wife."  The third daughter isn't so explicitly documented, but these two are enough to prove that the father is the same man who was sentenced to transportation to Australia.  James had TWO families.

Like I said, there is always something new to find - more skeletons to haul out of the closet.

Oops! Got that wrong!

Have just had an email from a lady pointing out a glaring mistake in my tree.  Well, it is glaring now that I look into it closely.  Many years ago, before using the computer and internet for my search (i.e. I did it the old fashioned way - trawling through microfiche, hopefully making contact with fellow researchers through lists in magazines and journals etc.) I made contact with several people who were researching the family of James DANIELS and his wife Mary RILEY, from the Hunter Valley region of NSW.  This was my late first husband's family.  A son, Edward DANIELS, married a Sarah Sophia MOORE - and it is from this union that my husband was descended.  One of the DANIELS / MOORE children was a Sarah Ana Young DANIELS and each researcher had her married to a George MacLENNAN.  Over the years I added to this line with relevant registration numbers, spouses and children etc.  One correspondent very kindly sent me a scan of a photograph of Sarah Ana Young MacLENNAN, nee DANIELS.
Surprise! Surprise!  I got an email from a lady this week, querying my inclusion of the marriage of Sarah Ana Young DANIELS to George MacLENNAN.  She is a descendant of the DANIELS / MacLENNAN marriage.  She included a copy of the Marriage Certificate, which clearly shows that the mother of the bride, Sarah Ann DANIELS, was Ann COLLIER, and the father of the bride was James DANIELS.  A copy of Sarah MacLENNAN's death registration which I received years ago shows that her parents were - James DANIELS and Ann COLLIER.  At the time I remember thinking the Ann COLLIER must have been a mistake.  I never noticed that the father should have been Edward, not James.  Nor apparently had any other researcher. My biggest surprise though, was that the woman who pointed out the error was the same woman from whom I'd received information and the photograph many years ago.
It is now quite clear that Sarah Ana Young DANIELS should never have been linked with George MacLENNAN.  She seems to have disappeared off the map though, as no-one has been able to locate anything other than her birth registration.
One researcher has another theory - that Sarah Ana Young DANIELS is actually Elizabeth Young DANIELS.  The only reference I can find for Elizabeth Young DANIEL is a marriage to George MITCHELL in Narrabri in 1877.  There is also a Death Registration for an Elizabeth Young MITCHELL in 1936 - with parents James and Sophia.  If she is of the same family her parents should be Edward and Sarah.  I suppose it IS possible that the parents have been incorrectly reported and that the informant got Edward confused with his father James, and gave the mother's seond name rather than her first.  It is certainly strange that both DANIEL(S) girls have the middle name of Young - it would suggest a connection, but exactly what is unknown.