On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 01:17:23 +0000, Ian Goddard <goddai01@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: >J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: >> On Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:11:46 +0000, Ian Goddard >> <goddai01@hotmail.co.uk> wrote: >> >>> J. Hugh Sullivan wrote: >>>> I can prove my ancestors "beyond a reasonable doubt" back to Adam and >>>> Eve using the Bible and Irish Mythology - published and respected >>> I think the word "Mythology" might be a slight problem there - though >>> maybe not with an Irish jury. >>> >>> -- >>> Ian >> >> "The Annals of the Four Masters" begins "when darkness was upon the >> face of the earth". > >Sounds like Belfast c AD 1970 > >> "Milesian Kings" begins in 3501 BC. "Japhet was > >Somewhat later than the C-14 date for the Ballynagilly house. > >> the eldest son of Noah. He had fifteen sons, amongst whom he divided >> Europe and the part of Asia which his father had allotted to him." - >> that's from Milesian Genealogies. >> > >The Four Masters would be tricky to check. Better stick to the Four Courts. > >-- >Ian Doing the genealogies of the Bible and the Irish reference works was fun. Until I did I did not know how we descended after the flood when, if you accept the Bible, only Noah's family was left alive. Tracking that to Milesius, then Suilebhain (Sullivan), and to the 1655 immigrant, John O'Sullivan, was a challenge. It doesn't matter how factual the line may be, it's just whether I, or anyone, could do it. To my knowledge no one else has. At my age the brain needs constant challenge to function. I have the time, my own research was at a standstill - why not? I've been through John O'Hart's "Origin and Stem...", too - and the Eochanacht. My problem, and that of so many, is: (1) fire, flood and war destroyed many essential records (2) poor dirt farmers didn't leave much of a trail. I have every Sullivan in the 1790 census in NC. I have eliminated all but 5 as possibly being the father of my gg grand. In theory I should be able to choose one of the 5. But what if his father was not even included in the 1790 census - and I know several Sullivans that were not. >From this thread I gather several people would have no problem selecting the father that looked best - whether he was right or wrong does not matter. That's certainly one way to do it. One cousin went to Ireland, saw a tombstone with the name Russell Sullivan, and for 10 years said she saw the burial place of our ancestor. Today it seems that anything is okay if it makes you feel good. Am I chastising a deceased equine? Hugh

In article <47b851c4.5237220@newsgroups.bellsouth.net>, J. Hugh Sullivan <Eagle@bellsouth.net> wrote: [trim] >My problem, and that of so many, is: (1) fire, flood and war destroyed >many essential records (2) poor dirt farmers didn't leave much of a >trail. > >I have every Sullivan in the 1790 census in NC. I have eliminated all >but 5 as possibly being the father of my gg grand. In theory I should >be able to choose one of the 5. But what if his father was not even >included in the 1790 census - and I know several Sullivans that were >not. >From this thread I gather several people would have no problem >selecting the father that looked best - whether he was right or wrong >does not matter. That's certainly one way to do it. > >One cousin went to Ireland, saw a tombstone with the name Russell >Sullivan, and for 10 years said she saw the burial place of our >ancestor. Today it seems that anything is okay if it makes you feel >good. > >Am I chastising a deceased equine? Rather. That issue of the 5 known candidates for a slot in your tree, and an unknown number of unknown candidates, is why my annoyance with software that tries to push conclusions rather than evidence. One should be able to collect and work with candidates, rather than having the choice only of 'leave it blank' and 'pick one'. The candidates, some at least, you may well be able to run a tree back farther, reliably (for however you define reliability). While it may turn out that the candidate whose tree you've run back another 3 generations is not _your_ ancestor, he quite possibly is _someone's_, so a service to others (if you share your work, which you've mentioned you don't, but for those who do). One ancestor of mine, relatively recent even, prompted my interest in method of multiple hypotheses (written up by T. C. Chamberlin for geology in the 1880s) for genealogy. Common first name and common last name, and was born in a large city/county. About a dozen candidates. More than I'm going to try to handle without some support. -- Robert Grumbine http://www.radix.net/~bobg/ Science faqs and amateur activities notes and links. Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences