(Just a random thought) I don't know about the rest of you, but my maternal ancestry line is difficult to research. Mostly I get a bunch of first names only. The only reason I bring this up is that the only ancestry we are truely sure of is the maternal line. Which is not even true in the case that our ancestor is adopted, but an adoption is not shown in any records, but I'll leave that aside for a minute. Does anyone make any accounting for the fact that _many_ women have affairs and children born in wedlock might have a different father than appears on the birth certificate? I know this is probably a touchy subject and it is probably impossible to know whether this is the case or not, but any thoughts? I am curious because I know someone who claims to be descendant from some guy in the 1300's. Assuming that her research is correct and that her line follows the men all the way back to this guy and assuming that 1% of birth certificate fathers are truly not the biological fathers, it is easy to come up with the probability that she is really a descendant of this person. Does anyone know any random facts about this subject? I would love to hear about it. BTW, I read that in Ancient Egypt, they followed the mother's line for that reason. Thanks in advance. Megan Payne >I *can* imagine how difficult it is to trace your African-American >roots because I have a cousin whose ancestors were first begat, then >owned by mine. We correspond. A lot of the old Southern guys in the >white suits and string ties trifled with the serving wenches, so to >speak; everything from out and out rape through winking about "Ol' >Massa is at it again" when the Missus was feeling poorly to living in >what was called sin in those days. They were not particularly proud of >it and very often didn't claim the children as their own, even when >they looked like them. So, you get a lot of proven maternal links and >fathers "Unknown".