Ne-Do-Ba

Your ancestors did not have to "prove" anything when the census taker came to the door

Now that you're a little more seasoned, review what you did in the early days and see if you still agree with yourself.

The Hunter or Detective:

The Gatherer or Ancestor Collector:

The Ancestor Finder:

We have to realize that everything that we learn about our ancestors has passed through filters—some of them even filters of our own. That is an important fact. Filters, by definition, change what passes through them. Instead of learning facts A, B, C, and D, only fact B passes through. We don’t learn the other facts and fact B comes through missing some context. That isn’t right or wrong. It isn’t lying. It is the nature of information preservation but it is also something we need to think about.

Culturally, I’m an American.

How long does it take us to lose our ethnicity?

Ethnicity is in your genes, embrace all the cultures of your ancestors.

Try and avoid as much as possible, interpreting your ancestor's actions in twenty-first century terms.

“It isn’t so astonishing, the number of things that I can remember, as the number of things I can remember that aren’t so.” ~Mark Twain

“When I was younger I could remember anything, whether it happened or not; but I am getting old, and soon I shall remember only the latter.”

At the best, compiled trees provide references to original source materials.

At the worst, they are completely incorrect.