When I find a story or a piece of information that is not verifiable I make sure that I label it as "Family Myth". "Family Myth" to me does not make a story irrelevant or false. The stories we tell ourselves identified who we are and who we wish to become and be. Family Myths can and do define a family. What is important is that we make every effort to document, make sure that we are honest in our evaluation of a piece of information and that and record that evaluation faithfully.
Helen -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gordon Small Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 7:35 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Wondering Fully verified in all cases can be a difficult thing to accomplish. I've only been doing this research for a year and one thing I keep finding true is that things I "know as fact" are only assumptions on my part. I keep finding very convincing and conflicting information. Even birth certificates are not proof of anything other than someone's idea of what they want other people to believe. I know of at least three instances in my ancestry that birth certificates were changed to fit a story what someone wanted to portray. I have two family members that I know were adopted but their birth certificates indicate they are biological. The parents of one even admit that they went to the state and had the birth record changed. That happened only a couple years ago. The fact that a hundred years ago people were outcast for having children out of wedlock would cause me to suspect that there are more than a few children that were born and the birth registered as the child belonging to married relatives. While you may have birth certificates and family records, fact can still be illusive, even in your immediate family. What you think is fact may really be a great and undetectable cover up by someone else. I try to give it my best guess by weighing all the information I have realizing that probably sometimes I'm going to get it wrong. One thing I have realized is that since I'm the one doing the research, my family almost unquestionably believe the information I give them. That in itself is scary considering I know how easy it would be to twist the truth and make it seem clear and convincing. Gordon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bernie Cramer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 6:58 AM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Wondering Mythology is what we are about until all sources are fully verified, then only does it become genealogy. Of the meager 2,859 family members in my database, only 1% is fully verified, I've a long way to go!!! Bernie. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Claire Quortrup" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2005 3:32 AM Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Wondering > I think what Bill may be saying is that the only ones in his database > are the ones he can verify - ie has good sources for. Maybe not? But I > doubt those with the huge databases of 10,000, 20,000 or 30,000 have > verifiable sources for that many descendants or Ancestors. By the way > verifiable sources does not include data from IGI or the Pedigree > Resource File. Those are mostly leads not sources since there are most > of the time no sources for the information offered. > > If you do not have legitimate sourced proof that an individual belongs > to your family all you have is a guess and all you have done is > collect a possible lead. You can collect names from now to kingdom > come but if that is all you do you have not done genealogy. You might > as well take a city phone book and copy all the names that match those > in your family. It actually verges on "one-up-manship." You need > birth & death records, land records, wills, military records, census > records and etc to prove a genealogy. It is hard work and can not be > done strictly on the internet in 6 months or a year or more. But it is > so satisfying when you find the one piece of information that provides > the proof you have been looking for. If you are not involved in this > kind of search you are missing half the fun of genealogy. I feel sorry > for you. > > Sorry for venting but I feel better. Spare me the critique of my > comments. I have heard all the easy answer before. > > Claire > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John R. Bayle" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 7:36 PM > Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Wondering > > > > Bill wrote: > >> I realize that this comment and question is not on the topic of > >> Legacy > >> BUT as I read all of your emails many tell of a data base of > >> 10,000--20,000-- even 30,000 individuals in your database with > >> Legacy. > >> For myself I go back 8 generations for my bloodline 14 generation > >> with > >> my mother's family, and 9 generations with my wife's side of her > >> family > >> with both parents. This includes all children within each > >> generational > >> family. And I have only tops 670 individuals. Yes, I have not > >> expanded > >> on all 13 children of my 4th great grand father. just my bloodline. > > > > Bill, if you go back one generation to your parents thats 2 people; > > 2 generations 4, so the number of people in a generation is 2 raised > > to the power of the number of generations, or 2^n in math/computer > > symbols. If you've gone back 8 generations on one line thats 256 > > people and if you've gone back 9 generations on another line, that's > > 512, which is 768 people without adding any siblings of these folks. > > So I don't see how you could have gone back that many generations > > on all your lines and have only 670 people in your file, and of > > course > > it would be many more if "all children within each generational > > family" > > were included. Perhaps you have some lines that don't go all the > > way back for 8 and 9 generations? 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