Joann, Do not be concerned about offending anyone when your offer was genuine and from the heart. I can speak only for myself, but, how can we really prove any documentation that we use to verify our ancestors. I have found original census records to be wrong due to the inability to spell names correctly, or because someone might have given the wrong information to the census taker for whatever reason, death cerificates wrong because the person giving the information gave a wrong maiden name or spouses name. The ONLY way we can know for sure is to have known the person while they were alive and I found out the hard way that is not always 100% either. My daughter was married to a man for 13 years and had 4 children by him only to discover he had used an alias when she met & married him. So this man that I knew as one name for 13 years really had another birth name, and the name that he used, I found to be of a person who was still living that he had stolen his identity from. Talk about problems with the IRS, the real person had them. Sorry to get off on this personal stuff, but wanted to use a good example to show why nothing is certain, sometimes even if you know them personally. And thanks again for passing on any information you think might be of help to others. Mary

Mary; thank you so much for your heart felt message. And reminding that none of us are really sure. Thank you so very much! Joann ----- Original Message ----- From: <Mbdiggin@aol.com> To: <KENTUCKY-LEGENDS-L@folklore.rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, September 13, 1999 9:41 PM Subject: Re: [KENTUCKY-LEGENDS AND FOLKLORE] KENTUCKY LEGENDS > Joann, > Do not be concerned about offending anyone when your offer was genuine and > from the heart. I can speak only for myself, but, how can we really prove > any documentation that we use to verify our ancestors. I have found original > census records to be wrong due to the inability to spell names correctly, or > because someone might have given the wrong information to the census taker > for whatever reason, death cerificates wrong because the person giving the > information gave a wrong maiden name or spouses name. The ONLY way we can > know for sure is to have known the person while they were alive and I found > out the hard way that is not always 100% either. My daughter was married to > a man for 13 years and had 4 children by him only to discover he had used an > alias when she met & married him. So this man that I knew as one name for > 13 years really had another birth name, and the name that he used, I found to > be of a person who was still living that he had stolen his identity from. > Talk about problems with the IRS, the real person had them. Sorry to get off > on this personal stuff, but wanted to use a good example to show why nothing > is certain, sometimes even if you know them personally. And thanks again for > passing on any information you think might be of help to others. > Mary