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So much to talk about, so little time.
I view genealogy research with several grains of salt and three vignettes that illustrate why we shouldn't take it, too seriously, or anything for granted.
First a joke. A man lay dying and asks his wife. "we have 4 children. 3 blonde and athletic and one gawky brown haired boy. I have to know before I die, is he really my son?" The wife swears up and down that the boy IS his son and he dies peacefully. As she exits the room, she mutters under her breath, "thank goodness he didn't ask about the other three."
Second is a true story. When the Jefferson society balked at admitting black descendants of the late president DNA testing was undertaken. Not only where the 'undocumented' black folks descendants all right, but a number of the most vocal, "well documented", white folks were proven to NOT be Jefferson's descendants at all. Two hundred years of birth, baptism, bible, and legal records, all wrong!
Third I made up. Grandma never told Grandpa that the third kid wasn't really his. She never told the man down the street either and she took her 'little secret' to the grave. How many times in the history of man has a similar event taken place? Thousands upon thousands, I'll bet. Hence the many jokes about the milkman, or was it the mailman?
To cynically sum it all up. Are you sure your biological parents are really your Mom and Dad? How about their parents? Are they really sure? Hmm.
I collect plausible facts that have an air of truth, a degree of believability and little or no dispute. I have actually removed disputed 'facts' when I could no longer believe in them. While my outlook may differ from the genealogy 'purists', I have a strong belief in the facts I've collected and would be happy to adjust them if proven wrong!
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