Erica Howton asked me to start a discussion on Mary Ball and Sinah Ball so as to explain to medieval scholars and others what my concern is about Sinah Ball.
This also relates to Daniel McCarthy of Virginia, Sinah Ball's husband, and potentially Jacob McCarty of North Carolina, who is my ancestor.
It may take me a bit to properly explain my concern, so please bear with me and give me a change to explain.
First, why does the family care? Because Mary Ball was the mother of George Washington. And, she is descended from the Wentworth family. And she had a daughter Sinah (Sarah?) who married a Daniel McCarthy of Virginia. The McCarthy family is very famous, and descends from the ancient McCarthy family of Munster, Ireland, that goes back in mythology to 1700BC. Queen Elizabeth I made a McCarthy an Earl. After that line died out Charles II also made another McCarthy an Earl. This is why medieval scholars care about this family.
The problem in the lineage develops in the history of Virginia and North Carolina and the migration of the descendants. The family name changed from McCarthy to McCarty. And the McCarty's of Charlotte NC undoubtedly are somehow related to the McCarthy's of Virginia.
Problem is, the trail thins out to be terribly thin. My ancestor, Jacob McCarty, who was married to Mary Morrow, had a fathet Daniel, and a mother Sinah. Problem is, nobody knows if the Daniel is the Daniel of Virginia, or if Sinah is the the Sinah who is the daughter of Mary Ball Washington. This is claimed, but is not proven. I would love to find solid evidence it is true. And I am one of the researchers working on that. I have been to the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh, NC, but have not yet found any substantiating linkages between the VA and NC family lines. I am not saying these do not exist. I am saying until the data is available the family should underclaim rather than overclaim.
Sadly, amateur genealogists become overzealous and overclaim.
So, I believe Mary Ball Washington had a Sinah Ball McCarthy daughter. I merely doubt she was the mother of the Jacob McCarty that married Mary Morrow and is my ancestor. There may have been other Sinah McCarty persons ion the colonies. But who were they?
Consequently, I was asking the mangers of the pages to "consider" removing the linkage until better evidence is developed. I am not adamant about this request, it is only an idea. Family members and page managers may actually object to the removal. My feeling is the decision should probably be up to a consensus of stakeholders. I, after all, am only one descendant, and someone may possess conclusive evidence to keep the linkage. But I have not seen this brought forth over the ten years I have been looking. But I don't know everything, either.
My fear is the linkage exists only because someone posted it on the internet, and it has been copied from site to site for years. If that is true, it is not very good genealogy.
Now, what do I believe about the McCarty family? Is the Daniel McCarthy of Virginia the father of Jacob McCarty of NC? Well, he was the father of somebody named Jacob, yes. But which Jacob? This is on rather thin ice too, and seems over-claimed without further evidence.
Yes, these McCartys, I believe, are related to the McCarthy family of Cork Ireland. They are Milesian in nature. My DNA proves that. But it is also very very broad. And it does not prove a direct lineal descent from the ruling clan of Munster. Medieval scholars may care about this issue because it is probable that the title or Earl ClanCarthy actually did arrive in America around 1693. One of the George's (George II?) restored the title. But in 1735 parliment blocked the restoration of the family fortune to any heirs.
My belief is Geni should contain linkages that are as solid as can possibly be established. I will continue to look into this and I hope all my cousins do so as well, until such time that we actually know the truth. Meanwhile geni.com is giving off what I think is flakey information.
So, we should perhaps re-consider.
Thanks,
