Mitchell

Family histories get very confusing when the work of other genealogists is accepted, carte blanche. Collecting information is a wonderful hobby, but we must remember to check and double-check information in order to satisfy ourselves that we are on the right track. It is a good idea to use the work of another genealogist as a “guide-line” rather than as fact. The county records where that person was known to have resided should be thoroughly examined. A family group sheet should be prepared for every person with that surname in the county (with the sources) in order to better understand whose children belong to whom and whether or not they were cousins, etc. This is the only means of preventing accepting persons in other families who are not directly related, but who have the same name. What I am saying here is that probably most of those families in the same county are your cousins, whether it is first cousin or 23rd cousin removed. And, the naming of children provides clues as to further relationships. As the old saying goes, the further back in time that we trace, the it seems that we are related to ” everyone!”