Hi A.T.,
My reply had nothing to do with Campbells, it was another family name. I love to read
heritage books and have purchased quite a few of them myself. No doubt there are some
truths in them BUT I do not simply believe everything that I read that has been written by
a person. Over the years I have had the pleasure to correspond with many of these
submitters and I have developed my own sense of trust for what has been written in these
books. I trust the work of some more than others and I think most people feel the same!
As far as naming pattern, yes it is worthy of some consideration but it is not a definite.
You will find many families that do not have a son named for the father or grandfather!
Ancestry, LDS, and heritage books can provide many clues, some truths, and alot of items
that require further research. Many times I look through all of these when looking for a
person but, speaking for myself, I very seldom believe everything I read in them!
Look how many times we've taken some of these trees and family histories and found
them to be accurate in some areas and totally "guess work" in the older
generations. Good example is our old George Campbell and Moses Campbell. Many trees and
histories about them and many have been proven wrong by the Campbell Kids. How many times
did you and others claim that there could be no relationship between some of these
mountain Campbells due to a "caste" system and that some members of a family
were farmers and others court clerks, judges, military men, etc. DNA has shown us that
there was a relationship between many of these families. That in itself is a good example
of how research/technology has changed our thinking about these families. Yet, we still
don't have the answers to many of our questions!!
Long story short, these heritage books are a great read, have some truth and alas, some
questionable data. The people submitting these articles have done the best they can with
the information they have at the time. We all know that many theories have been debunked
by research of the Campbell Kids.
Take care,
Sylvia