Roy Keys <apeiron(a)vif.com> wrote:
The object of my interest concerns the alleged descent of my Evans and Lewis
ancestors from figures of great antiquity in Welsh history. Can my
correspondents suggest avenues of research that might lead to success in
this quest?
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Dear Roy,
My suggestion is that for the present time you abandon your attempts to link
your ancestry to "figures of great antiquity in Welsh history". I urge you
to follow the fundamental principle of genealogy: to go back in time, one
generation at a time, starting with your own generation.
Work back systematically, recording everything you find out, and recording
the sources of your information.
Eventually, you will reach a point where records of your ancestors cease,
either because the records have not survived or because the records have
never existed.
When you reach that point, you have a vital decision to make:
EITHER you can decide to call it a day on that particular line, and focus
your efforts on another branch of your family;
OR you can indulge in speculation and make tenuous links over several
generations into previously published pedigrees which may or may not have
been properly researched. Taking such a course is no longer genealogy.
No matter how determined the researcher, if genealogical research is
conducted properly and honestly, there is certainly no guarantee that every
family line, nor even *most* family lines, can be traced back even to the
18th century. Indeed, many of us with family names such as EVANS and LEWIS
would consider it a major achievement to have reached the early 19th
century!
To my mind, it is far better to produce a short pedigree based on thorough
and rigorous research using reliable sources, than to produce a long
pedigree reaching back into the Middle Ages and beyond, but based on
unreliable evidence and speculative leaps of faith.
In no way do I want this message to appear as a criticism of your great
aunt, but her apparent reliance on family lore, together with her failure
fully to cite her sources, should trigger very loud genealogical alarm
bells!
Kind regards,
John
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John Ball, Ystalyfera, South Wales, UK
E-mail: wfha(a)clara.co.uk
Homepage:
http://home.clara.net/wfha/
Images of Wales:
http://home.clara.net/wfha/walespic/
Welsh Family History Archive:
http://home.clara.net/wfha/wales/