Cousin fishing is a term referring to comparing the family trees of possible relatives. The strategy is enabled by genealogy platforms including Ancestry or FamilySearch who provide access to members’ public trees with possible shared ancestors. While cousin fishing can be extremely useful, particularly for cousins that share DNA, possible matches must be fully vetted for accuracy and documentation, and analyzed for logical time, place, and connections.

Consider our direct ancestor is George Moore who died 1817 in Rutherford, North Carolina. We have not yet proven his parents, birthdate, birth location, or the name of first wife who was the mother of his four children (per his will): Rebecca Sally Moore Fletcher, James C Moore, Joseph Moore, and Lemuel Moore.

We have proven that George Moore is our ancestor based on triangulation of multiple DNA matches, George’s will, and documentation of his children (including their wills). His last (and presumed second) wife was Elizabeth ? Hawkins Moore, 1750-1819, documented by her will that names the grandchildren of her son from her first marriage to William Hawkins.   

Yet we frequently see research from possible cousins listing George’s first wife as Martha V Roster – without documentation. This information has been shared and spread online without documentation other than a single record that appears to be for a different couple. The international marriage record lists Martha V Roster, daughter of Captain Daniel Brown Jr and Fanny Flowers Webb (not Roster?). The international marriage record lists George M Moore, born 1740 in England, marrying a woman named Martha (last name unknown), also born in England in 1740 (Yates Publishing, 1740). George M Moore and Martha V Roster (nee Brown) were married in Virginia, date unknown. So far we have found three George Moores who lived in North Carolina in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Of those three, one was our ancestor who died 1817, one was George M Moore who MAY be part of the SC Governor James Moore line, and a third Moore line that apparently emigrated from Ireland.

We continue to research George M Moore from this record. He may be part of the same family or an entirely different Moore line. We also continue to research Martha Roster (nee Brown) who apparently was a widow by the time she married her George.

The lesson? Embrace leads but fully vet and analyze. Don’t accept at face value without doing the work to confirm and verify. My Roots Genealogy gladly looks at leads but follows strict practices to verify, document, and analyze before accepting hints as evidence.

References

(2004). U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Source number: 1430.174; Source type: Family group sheet, FGSE, listed as parents; Number of Pages: 1. Yates Publishing. Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/854965:7836?ssrc=pt&tid=118101335&pid=332542516056