On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:46:55 GMT, Eagle@bellsouth.net (J. Hugh Sullivan) wrote in soc.genealogy.computing: >The National Genealogical Society is one in the US. I would have personally some problem with associating a society and knowledge. While the society (whatever it is and whatever the purpose is, i.e. genealogy or other topics) may have the purpose of publishing data (review, database, books, etc.), it is usually not a monopoly. A federation of societies is usually a better group to define standards and in many domains, there are specific committees to set standards and while they are usually associated to societies or federations equivalent, they work better when they are independent and include representants from the industry (genealogy software authors in our case). So, even if the NGS can set some standard, FGS can have other and different standards and LDS may have other as well so that in genealogy, there is no universal "authority", even at a national level. >You're back to semantics. I'm looking at 3 or 4 generations. Adopted >kids may have no medical info on ancestors and it will get worse for >their grandchildren if they look to falsified ancestors for data. >From genetics studies I have seen and my own feeling from what the records show, a typical rate for babies born out of weblock in Quebec before the 1960s would be 1 to 2%, i.e. 1 out of 10 people making a male line 10 generations back will get the wrong male ancestor. The rate in New England and Virginia should be similar when records exist, i.e. in small societies where the marriage is compulsory, there is a small rate of biologically illegitimate babies. And in larger societies, when people can't be checked and where there are much more foreigners, the rate is higher. This is why genealogy is not genetics. You have to believe in the documents. If the DNA doesn't match, then you can't know who broke the line. >70% is more than "possibly" and many Southern families are >considerably more certain than that. Actually, it could be around 99%. But even with 99%, you must accept that you go by the papers and not by the genes. Denis -- 0 Denis Beauregard - /\/ Les Français d'Amérique du Nord - www.francogene.com/genealogie--quebec/ |\ French in North America before 1722 - www.francogene.com/quebec--genealogy/ / | Maintenant sur cédérom, début à 1770 (Version 2008) oo oo Now on CD-ROM, beginnings to 1770 (2008 Release)