Sir Creep <sircreep@hotmail.com> wrote in news:d9a46f7f-e55b- 43a2-ac1a-9eb8719c2d48@j20g2000hsi.googlegroups.com: > On Jan 8, 8:47 am, Christopher Jahn <xj...@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> Census data can never be *proof*; not only do they not require >> documentation, you have no way of knowing who provided the >> information.  Was this person REALLY James Lail, or someone >> pretending to be him? > > You learn something new every day. Today I learned that > identity theft was rampant in 1865-70. THink about it; no photographs, no computer look-ups, no social security database, birth certificates weren't mandatory; To assume a new identity, all you had to do was go somewhere where no one knew you or the guy you were pretending to be. Photo IDs only became common in the last 25 years. It's only in the last ten to fifteen years that criminal records have been widely available on the web. There's nothing new under the sun. I'll bet you didn't know that electric cars outnumbered gasoline- burning cars a hundred years ago. -- }:-) Christopher Jahn {:-( http://soflatheatre.blogspot.com/ Do not speak about Time, until you have spoken to him.