Is the information I have on these distant ancestors reliable (specific details included)?

Based on the wording of the question... no one can tell you this info is reliable, and in fact, I would be very skeptical.

1. You have researched it on ancestry.com. Meaning, you have ONLY USED online sources. You PERSONALLY have found no records independently.

2. You may have used online family trees, which are notorious for mistakes.

3. You have tons of Elizabeths. Standard for the time. For example, do you have A WILL for Obadiah Wheeler, mentioning my daughter Elizabeth, wife of Elisha Rice? This would leave no doubt. In early Mass. there may have been 5 Elizabeth Wheelers and a birth record is not enough to prove that Elisha's wife is the same as Obadiah's daughter.

4. A "family data record" is not a record. It is someone else's conclusion, and you mention no original back up documents.

If you have ONE MISTAKE, the entire tree crashes. You MAY HAVE good lines, but based on what is said here, it is not RELIABLE.

edit

I repeat... I answered BASED ON HOW YOU WORDED YOUR QUESTION.

Since you say you are not an amateur, then I would expect you to KNOW when a document is valid or not. If you want to join the Mayflower society, it seems reasonable to me that they have publications concerning lineages that have already been proven to their standards, and all you need to do, is tie in.

And I repeat my comment concerning the possible situation of multiple women of the same name.. you need MORE THAN just the birth record to identify the married woman to be daughter of her father. In some instances, you need to build a total base of evidence, with multiple records, if ONE record is insufficient or unclear.

I have not researched these lines.. so responding to your posting is the only opinion I can have, either way.

Many people are using the sources cited on Ancestry and assume that the information is correct - You must remember that websites use transcriptions of documents and the transcriptions may not be correct.

Ancestry contracts to several Asian countries to do the transcriptions, or so I am told by other Genealogists. I assume that this may be the truth as I have found many incorrect transcriptions in the translations of spellings of names and from handwritten documents.

A copy of the actual document and not the index is what is considered correct Genealogical documentation. Ancestry, or any other internet site is not a source and is not accepted as a source.

If you do no intend to attempt to join a historical society, such as the DAR or Descendants of the Salem trials, the information you have is ok because any one who wants to find your sources can.

That is the purpose of citing sources, so that any one who wishes to document your findings are able to trace your though process in your research.

Although I use sources the way you have described in my computer programs, I also have copies of the original documents for most of my ancestors that I maintain in binders.

The word "records" can mean different things, in Genealogy a record is the original or a copy of an original document. They are not pieces of information taken from books or online sites, unless you find a copy of the document referenced on line.

Documentation can refer to almost anything that indicates a piece of information that documents the movements/history of an ancestor.

Pictures are not considered documentation, but are fun to include in computer programs.

"The sources for the marriage are Massachusetts marriage records." so you have checked the source back to the original records as online unless it is an image of the real record it means nothing at all....... then you will know

" I have town and vital records for her birth in 1713, which includes the name of her parents, Elisha and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Rice." I doubt very much this information as 'birth records' were not written in 1713

Just from those examples I think you are confusing 'records' with online information, transcriptions etc........ there are NO RECORDS online unless they are an IMAGE of the original record, NOTHING else so "Are these reliable enough records to use" ........no all they are is 'clues' about where to look for the real record, once you have then you have the information contained in that record

Being a descendant of 3 of the Mayflower passengers, I would say that what you have, if the sources are the actual documents and not just something someone put online, are good and likewise prove Mayflower Descendancy. (It is a big organization and publishes the Mayflower Descendant, which you should be able to puruse at your local public library.)

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mayflower_pas...