What archives, what library and what newspapers was Mr. Jones supposed to have checked out? From 1870 to 1910? Come on now, be fair. Mr. Jones says that he had made 2 trips to Washington and 4 trips to Raleigh, and searched all records to find out about the Hamrick families. Jewel -----Original Message----- From: motesp@hiwaay.net <motesp@hiwaay.net> To: HAMRICK-L@rootsweb.com <HAMRICK-L@rootsweb.com> Date: Monday, October 11, 1999 12:05 PM Subject: Re: [HAMRICK-L] Jones Book >Dear Bev and List, > >From what I've been told and read, Mr. Jones did not bother to check out >any of his "facts." He apparently didn't spend a great deal of time at >libraries or archives, visiting courthouses or reading newspapers. > >Bev writes, "He could only write down what he was told....." Of course, he >could have verified what he was told!! And I find no evidence of that. > >And Bev, if your own kids can't tell you the names of their grandparents, >shame on you for not teaching them (assuming they are over 5). > >Bev also wrote, "His book is a good starting point...." and "A clue from >his book can point you in the right direction...." I dispute both those >point. A clue from his book pointed me in the wrong direction for years!!! > And now the task of having to disprove some of the things he wrote is >wasting a lot of our time. > >J. R. wrote (several days ago), "Before you ask, I will say I consider his >work very good evidence. He lived among these persons and traveled about >for over forty years recording the verbal genealogy of all the grandmothers >and other family members who contributed. You can find many errors in his >work, spelling, nick names, confused marriages and children but the basic >framework is correct." Whenever you can find "many errors" in someone's >work along with "confused marriages and children", I have a hard time >agreeing that the work in question is very good anything - much less >evidence. (I had an aunt, Carrie Bell Springer Hillhouse) who lived in >the Fall River, TN community for 68 years; she never lived anywhere else. >Yet when she submitted data about the Hillhouse Cemetery for publication in >a local cemetery book, her directions weren't even close. She missed it by >two miles, had it on the wrong side of the creek, and made up the names and >dates on the field stones to match stories she thought she had heard.) > >As I have said before, my husband's HAMRICK aunt lied for years about her >date of marriage and went so far as to change the date in the marriage book >at the courthouse (never realizing that the courthouse has three books - >one listed by brides, one by grooms, and one copies of the license). She >didn't want anyone to know that the date of her church wedding was her real >wedding date since the baby arrived six months later; she maintained that >she had eloped months earlier and cited the license as her "proof." If >anyone would try to pin her down to specifics, she had a tendency to change >the subject. Another Hamrick aunt changed the date her son married. Same >reason. > >Both of these instances were easy to check (verify, as it were) with a trip >to the courthouse. But I've found no evidence that Mr. Jones even >attempted to verify anything. (The second source for both of the above >referenced stories were the records of the church. The third source was a >newspaper account of the marriages. And the final, rather funny, source >about Dot was a comment in one of the gossip columns that Dot's daughter >was claimed to be a premature baby but weighed 9 lbs. 2 oz.) Once upon a >time it was taboo to have a child out of wedlock - or in the cases above, >early. Families went to great lengths to hid such disgraces. Mothers >raised their grandchildren as their own to protect their daughters' good >names. Mr. Jones may not have "known" he was being misled, but he could >have checked before he published. > >So, did Martha (Patsy) MOZLEY marry John HAMBRICK and have Benjamin, >Catherine, Eliza, and Simmedy? Or was that something Mr. Jones just wrote >because someone once said that? And if she did, where's the evidence? And >after Patsy died (or left - no mention of what happened to her), did the >same John marry Nancy TODD? Or was it a different John who married Nancy >Todd? > >And who can tell me what happened to Salathy and Selety HAM(B)RICK? Or >Marshall? > >These folks are all mentioned in Mr. Jones' book. What happened to them? > >Pat >motesp@hiwaay.net >