Monday's Musings and A Lesson Learned

Is it true just because someone says it is?

Three years ago, I decided to trace my Father's family. See, my Daddy died when I was 6 years old. His dad died at the age of 48, his mom ( my Granny) died when I was 18. Long before I was in any way interested in genealogy. On top of that Daddy was 20 years older than Mama and my Granny was around 85 when she died. So in actuality a whole generation removed from "the norm".

My Great Uncle, on my mothers side, has done a lot of genealogy work. Of course on the Williams/Lee branch of the family, Lee mainly, definitely more Southern appropriate. Literally no research on alternate branches. Ok, Ok, I understand, after all that was his ( and my maternal grandmother's) family history. And mine by relation, all good to have even though I didn't understand at all the family history pages he had written up and given at family reunions! What were all those blasted numbers? And why weren't they sequential? Anyway literally no living relatives, that I knew of, in Daddy's family to ask questions. My Mama knew a few family names, but literally by word of mouth.

So what does a girl do? Join genealogy online and "go searching". Imagine my surprise, I found links, and shaky leaves, and family names!! Wow, this is not so hard after all! Connect Connect Connect. Now I have family members all the way back to I think the 1500's!!! Amazing!

Finally the glow wears off, and I start thinking and wanting to know more about the lives these family members lived. How did we get from Wales ( and being called "Sir So & So) to a small mill town in SC? What was it like for my Granny, in rural GA, helping to raise her brothers and sisters at the age if 14 when her mother died? Was that true? It was what had been told to my Mama at some point in time but...

 I remember in elementary school a little game the teacher had us play, she told the first person in the first row something and that person turned and whispered it to the next, and so on and so on. Y'all remember that, right? Of course, by the time it got to the last person in the room it was totally different from the original.
Where did all these linked family members come from? Where did these people get their information? Was it correct? Were these really my relatives? Or had I been "duped" by something repeated so many times it wasn't anything close to the truth?

Back online I go, find some genealogy blogs and find some educational material about how to conduct family research. Learn that there needs to be source citations. What's that? Look for said citations in the information I have gathered. Hmm, seems that it mostly came from someone copying someone else's tree. Find out that census reports are really hard to read. Learn that even though I know my Daddy's surname ( new term for me - it's a last name!) it could easily be recorded with a different spelling and still be his family! What?!

Ok I now know a little bit about how to go about tracing my family tree. Still a lot to learn, but I'm excited again! Start from the beginning and cite my sources! Go to the courthouses and actually look up the records. Yay, road trip in my future!

The short answer is No. Just because someone says it (or puts it in a family tree), doesn't make it true. Take the time to check the information. Look at source citations. Find your own proof!