In an email I received from FamilyTree magazine, it had an article titled “13Genealogy Myths and Misconceptions”.
The complete article can be found, by clicking on the link
above.
Without reading the entire article, I just stopped and read
the 13 Myths and thought if I have heard of any of these myths as pertains to
my family.
Myth 1: Surnames were changed at Ellis Island – now none of
my family actually claimed this, however my in-laws claimed that my married
surname of Filipiak was changed. However, I find Filipiak’s still in Poland and
don’t think this the story is correct.
Myth 2: It’s in print. It must be true! – WOW, I have heard
this one. Especially from printed books from the late 1800’s, when genealogy
seems to be booming and lots of lineage societies, such as the Daughter’s of the
American Revolution was being formed. The first thing I learned in genealogy,
is never trust someone else’s research unless you verify it yourself. Even some
lineages in DAR have been flagged as errors, so anyone can make mistakes.
Myth 3: All the records you need about your family history
are online. This one makes me smile and laugh. I use to volunteer at my local
genealogical society library until I moved to another state. Many people came
into the library thinking this. Many in the society also thought this. They
would ask me why I visit courthouses and when I tell them, not everything is
online, they look shocked.
Myth 4: This is most definitely my ancestor, according to
the 423 online trees. I was helping a cousin once, trying to figure out who the
spouse of one of our common relatives. She stated one person and someone who
contacted her about this branch had stated another. I did a little digging and found
12 trees supporting the other person’s theory. No one had any sources listed,
so I reached out to the 12 members. Surprising 11 replied back to me. 11 stated
that they found it in someone else’s tree, I figured the 12th person
that didn’t reply was the person’s tree it was found on. My cousin could not
remember where she got her information. My research pointed to the FamilySearch
website, which had that relationship listed. No real sources either, besides an
old tree that someone submitted to the Church years ago.
Myth 5: We descend from a Cherokee princess. First of all,
there are no royal titles in the Native American tribes. My own half-siblings
were told they descended from an Indian Princess. Well, there was Native
American ancestor’s in their tree, and it was a female that married into their
surname branch. She was a daughter of a war chief. Unfortunately, there could
be more than one war chief. Native American Tribes are not ruled or run by just
one person, but a group of men would discuss and come to an agreement of what
to do. It is Europeans, who didn’t seem to understand this and would want one
to represent the tribe.
Myth 6: The courthouse burned and the records are gone. My
mother told me once, that her birth certificate burned in a courthouse fire and
she had to get a duplicate created. I knew where she was born, and I knew that
the courthouse didn’t have a fire. After she pass away, I went to the
courthouse to look for your birth certificate and her parent’s marriage record.
What happened was she was born two years before her parent’s marriage and her
father (actually step-father) adopted her when she was 18 and preparing to
attend college. So my mother lied, so that I would not go look up this
information about her. She was a sly fox.
Myth 7: Same surname – must be relative. I have Booths in my
family. My mother told me that her grandmother, Nell Booth was a cousin to John
Wilkes Booth. She even claimed to have John’s famous ring. Well, not true. Even
though I struggled researching Nell’s ancestry, John Wilkes Booth’s ancestry
was easy to research and the timelines did not match my family.
Myth 8: hey look, it’s our family crest! My family never
claimed to have a family crest, however I remembered someone came into the
library looking for his family history. I use to live in Lake Havasu City, Arizona,
it’s where they moved the London Bridge back in the late 1960’s. Anyway, there
as a vendor down by the bridge that used to sell family crests. This guy stated
that the vendor looked up his name and found the crest. I could not explain
that crests were given to one person, not an entire family. That is got passed
down from father to son. He was having none of it.
Myth 9: Three brothers came to America…. I even heard three
siblings, four brothers, etc. The story is that they settled in different parts
of the US or even different parts of the state. What research really has taught
me is that families usually settle together. Sometimes, one will go to America,
establish themselves and start sending for more family who will settle near the
first one. People relied on their families. In rare occasions, one family
member might strike off on his own and never be heard from again.
Myth 10: Hey the article is missing this one, I guess I
better read the article to find out more.
Myth 11: Our Ancestors were much shorter than we are. This could be true, but more likely, we
inherit our height from our ancestors. We might find that we get a little
taller, but the ceiling height of an ancestor’s home, might have more to do
with building supplies, heating the space and other factors.
Myth 12: Our ancestors died young. I am not sure how far
back we need to go to prove this, but I found many ancestors in the last 200
years who lived into their 80’s and even 90’s. I do know that many children
didn’t survive childhood, but my ancestor’s seemed to live long lives.
Myth 13: Our ancestors were mostly illiterate. Many were
illiterate and this is one of the reasons we find our surname spellings
changing through the years. Those that could spell or those around them that
could spell, would develop a spelling based on the sound or perhaps they ran
across a spelling of the surname. Many were farmers who worked hard in the
fields, had their children work with them, and perhaps they didn’t have time to
learn to read. Lucky for us, that through the centuries, our ancestors saw the benefits
of a good education. Looking back at the education system, shows how that even
has changed.
Okay, found Myth 10: Source citations are just for
professionals. When I was younger, I found out that one of my maternal aunts
was doing genealogy research. We joined forces and started researching. I asked
if we should be noting where we found this stuff. My aunt chuckled and stated “It’s
not like we will ever be able to join DAR”. Joke was on her, I found an
ancestor on my maternal side that I was able to join DAR. If my aunt had lived
long enough, she would have been able to join too.
Anyway, read the article from Family Tree Magazine, even if
you are seasoned researcher, you might learn something. I found the article quite informative.
Good luck in your research and keep digging!
