general clan advice... Help

[EagleJCS]

Sometimes you have to take a connection to a famous (or infamous person!) with a grain of salt, especially with online family trees (unless the original/primary or secondary records are cited - and not just 'great-uncle Henry said so').

In some instances, a presumption is made about particular people because the name is the same, when after further research it is found that either a) the dates don't match, b) the person in question wasn't in the area at the time the record was written, c) the person in question had different parents that the purported connection, or d) all of the above. (Not intended to be an exhaustive list, but by way of example).

In my family record, for example, we have found three men of the same name in the same county at the same time, but with further research, we have found that none of them are related to each other, but it makes unraveling the records we do have a bit more complicated. (In fact, at this time, there are at least 5 men in this city with my first and last names, and the same middle initial. We're all different ages, and I'm not related to any of them, as far as I know. I do know for a fact, though, that the father of one of them has the same first name and middle initial as my father!) Imagine what kinds of problems this may give to a future family tree researcher!