About this site

The ultimate goal, of course, is accuracy and confidence. One ought to be able to demonstrate beyond a doubt that the connections between families and the life stories of individuals are valid.

Yet, piecing together the story of a family is a process that also entails creativity and sparks of genius. If one does not take chances, does not make jumps and leaps, does not embrace the “data;” as a living trail of clues, I believe that one is just as likely to be mislead. The world is not always the place that the straightforward thinker would have it. People lie. We make up facts to serve ourselves. In short, we make our own histories and no record keeper in history has been smart enough to devise a system to control that part of us.

It is incumbent, then, on the family historian in my humble opinion to:

• Triangulate every claim with at least three valid sources
• Even then, to keep an open mind
• And finally, to maintain a trail of clues that can spark the creativity of the process

This is my goal, but my research is far from perfect and is still far from meeting these three conditions. Its primary purpose is to ask questions. It provides only the framework for the stories I have collected to date because it is intended as a starting point for further research. It errs by not delineating where information has been confirmed by three sources. Making this clear is a challenge I must meet.