Duane, Good. Absolutely, I've never given up hope of finding the documentation to back up the information that was passed down to me. But I think I may be the only surviving descendant. LOL. My information that was sorta posted yesterday has been posted before, and there have been references in the McBee newsletter to the same information along with sources, so sometimes I fail to post sources when I post a query in present time. Ali United we stand, divided we fall. God Bless America!! From: duane mills <duane@online.no> Reply-To: MCBEE-L@rootsweb.com To: MCBEE-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [McBEE] Documentation versus Word of Mouth Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 15:58:20 +0100 Ali, You draw the line when you post. Just as a serious researcher would not write and publish a reference book on a subject without copius footnotes so that other researchers could verify his expertise, it is your responsibility - even as an amateur - to be able to back up what you post, as those receiving assume you know what you are talking about. As I said earlier, goodness - you can include whatever you like in your private pedigree. Mine is full of speculation. But when you post, it is only responsible if you want any credibility, to be truthful. If you are speculating as we all do, then just say so with a "qualifier". To avoid posting wrong, I have marked all people that I have verified and when I make a gedcom I just check the "include only marked people". You may have given up hope, but you probably have not exhausted every source - we all have roadblocks to get around. Most times, the info is out there. It may be on site, or tucked away in some obscure place, but there is a court record, a will, or another relative with surviving info that just got interested in genealogy or something else somewhere. Good luck. Duane Mills >I totally agree that you should have documentation where it is >available. But Duane, where do YOU draw the line and say "I've done >all I could, exhausted every source, and still cannot find Great >Aunt Hester even though I know she existed because here's her >picture"? > >Of course we never stop looking and hoping, but there is a line. > >Ali > >United we stand, divided we fall. >God Bless America!! ==== MCBEE Mailing List ==== RootsWeb forbids posting of copyrighted material without permission of the author. Read RootsWeb's Acceptable Use Policy at http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/aup.html ============================== Visit Ancestry.com for a FREE 14-Day Trial and enjoy access to the #1 Source for Family History Online. Go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=702&sourceid=1237 _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

Ali. >. But I think I may be the only surviving descendant. LOL. I thought I was too, until I discovered the horse thieves and all the illegitimate cousins. Talk abolut LOL, I fell out of my chair while transcribing a court document where my gggaunt was testifying about her husband: "We had our family quarrels, and I never would commence the fusses, but when he commenced to fuss and quarrell with me, I would help him out, for he would get my dander up, and I would give him as good as I had." You can´t get more honest that that! If you think about it, "Hobby Genealogist" is a misnomer. No one talks about "hobby doctors", "hobby lawyers" or "hobby nuclear physicists". Amateur genealogist would be more descriptive, and even the rankest amateur should care greatly about his credibility. Duane Mills Stavanger, Norway