yes i agree completely. the James Downing material was copied verbatim from the submittor. I have seen the originals in the files. Genealogy without documentation is mythology. We all make assumptions and try and prove them, but until we do the information should be presented as an assumption. joe >I've discussed this book before. I only have volume one. The book should be >considered a collection of information on people named Downing. The >collection is totally undocumented. It begins with an error. I'll use it as >an example. > >It begins with John Downing who married Hannah Frakes. He went, she says, >from PA to OH to IL. He served, she says, in the Revolutionary War. It is >true the John Downing married Hannah Frakes. He probably came from PA but >we don't know that. He died in Illinois -- we have the body so I know that >is true. He is NOT the Revolutionary War veteran whose service record she >gives. That man is from another line of Downings and is buried, I believe, >in Mason County, KY. She did manage to convince the DAR, briefly, that he >was the same but they know better now. > >MOST of the book revolves around descendants of John Downing of which I am >one. Most of this information she got from J. Dalen Shellhammer who has >been doing genealogy for 50 years and whose wife is also a professional >genealogist. There are the usual errors but if you are a descendant of John >the line is pretty good. The rest of the book is a collection of Downing >lineages that she obtained from various [unnamed] sources. There is no >documentation for anything in the book. I don't think it is any more >reliable that anything else where a person can write down any ancestors >they want and submit it as fact. It may be accurate and then again it may >not be. Some may be and others definitely aren't. > >Joe -- would you say that is a fair assessment of the book? > > >Cheryl Rothwell >clrothwell@mindspring.com >Logan County, ILGenWeb, coordinator >http://www.rootsweb.com/~illogan/loindex.htm >Logan County mailing list> LOGAN-L@rootsweb.com >Downing mailing list> DOWNING-L@rootsweb.com > > >==== DOWNING Mailing List ==== > > >