This is a problem. I find a whole slew of trees, including the world tree at FamilySearch, that have Samuel (my many times great grandfather) attached as a son to Reuben James Thompson and Martha Chambers. James Thompson and Martha Chambers were Quakers who married in 1766 in Delaware Colony, as this family group sheet from FamilySearch would indicate. There are marriage and will documents to support that. But at some point they migrated to Orange County, North Carolina. There is no indication that:
A) James was ever known by the name Reuben (maybe he was, but I haven’t found evidence of it yet), and
B) that they had a son named Samuel (James’ will lists his other children, but no Samuel), and
C) that James ever set foot in Georgia. How is Samuel born in Fayette County, Georgia in 1767? That area was Creek Indian territory. It was not taken by whites until the 1821 Georgia land lottery, so I am confident that it was 100% not settled by the newborn Samuel in 1767.
I don’t know what the answer is, but this is a hot mess. Did not one single person stop and question what they were importing into their family tree? As far as I can tell, the Thompson trail documentation goes cold at Samuel, and there is no evidence that he can be attached to James Thompson and Martha Chambers.
red paper boat 
I have had problems like this pop up in my tree also. I really do not think we can do much about it. At times when I had the proof that would correct the error they did not. Other times when I question a giant leap of faith on their part all I would get is Silence or just words to the effect that they know they are right. All we can do is make sure our tree is as correct as possible and be open when someone questions our results.
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Exactly. There isn’t anything you can do about other people’s nonsense. (Though you CAN edit the world tree on FamilySearch, but so can everyone else.)
I just think this is a funny cautionary tale. Not as good as the Mayflower era era tree I saw where a bunch of kids were born after the father’s death, and one was born at sea after the Mayflower landed. As for this tree, it could mostly be legit, IF Samuel Thompson were born in North Carolina. I have theories, but I no actual evidence for where he was born. Yet.
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