On Genealogy

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is not an "anti-Genealogy rant" this is an "anti-bad genealogy rant".

If you are going to say that Sir William Lockwood of Bristol is the great grandfather of X, then have something other than a website to back up your assertion. A government record. A church record of a birth, baptism or marriage.

Yes, I know there's 50 million genealogy sites on the internet, and I'm sure that if you searched them all without a critical eye, you could trace everyone and their mother back to Adam and Eve.

In fact, when you get back THAT far (if you REALLY do...remember, you have to have REAL EVIDENCE to assert a connection) be extra careful before you tie someone in with someone who has a biblical lineage. Because, frankly, you DON'T really know if you're correct once you get that far.

Often genealogies back then would list generations as "Isaac, son of Benjamin, etc" when Isaac could very well have been Benjamin's grandson. (Yes, I know that in the biblical line of Abraham, it was the other way around, I'm trying to make a point here, people...)

Finally, watch those alternative spellings. Shakespeare, for instance, was often spelled Shakespear or Shakespeare or Shakespere or even something as bizarre looking as Shaxpere.

Basically, the point is, if you're going to toss a completed family tree in front of me, and you can't provide some sort of real documentation that these people are, in fact, my ancestors, then it means nothing.

So please, do genealogy, just do it as you would conduct any other research.

Just another rant. Carry on.