Where it started

Family legends start in a number of places. Your grandmother tells a story. Your great-uncle relates a tale he heard from his grandfather about family origins. These narratives are passed down with such enthusiasm that they're embraced as the real deal.

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Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

But they're not. Tales persevere because they satisfy a need to explain the past. But in truth, if truth is the least bit important, these stories need to be researched and verified before they can be accepted as fact.

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We need to haunt the house of history and listen anew to the ancestors wisdom. – Maya Angelou

In our own multi-layered family origins, some stories have migrated down through the decades, but without verification they can't contribute to our history. Here are some examples.

• "Her mother was a De Vigny who was smuggled out of Paris during the French Revolution, hidden in a barrel in a horse-drawn cart, and delivered safely to a pious family of Lutherans in Zweibrücken." The story is vivid but there's no evidence for any person in the Laurent family called De Vigny, despite what our cousins related. In fact, Caroline Laurent was from a long line of Laurent/Lorentz progenitors in Alsace. The documents clearly reveal that this family was active into the 1600s in Ammerschwihr, Haut Rhin, France as clerks, insurance agents, and bookbinders. Caroline's mother was a laundress and unmarried to her father...probably the veil of inspiration for the fairy tale handed down to descendents. Beware of details that are too colorful!
• "The Von Jatho family was associated with the royal family in Germany and was part of the king's retinue, but left their castle in Hanover to come to America." Our Jatho ancestors (who never had a "von" in front of their name) were teachers and clerks in Lippoldshausen and Uschlag before settling in Dransfeld, where they became hoteliers, sommeliers, and insurance agents. G.W. Jatho emigrated in 1848 to Charleston, South Carolina, where he was employed as a watchmaker and jeweler. People with castles do not seek their fortune in the New World. You can bet on it.
• "My grandfather was descended from a Cherokee princess." It's a simple matter to determine whether there's any Native American ancestry in your family. Take a DNA test! It will let you know in an instant whether you have any Native ancestry in your DNA. But it begs the question: why do folks think they have Cherokee ancestry, and not Cahuilla, Yana, Tongva, Wampanoag, or other Native antecedents? Is there something about Cherokee that takes precedence? In any case, if a World War I registration card claims that your grandfather was Indian, look carefully at the handwriting. It probably says that he was born in Indiana.
• "We don't know anything about your great-grandmother except that her husbands kept dying." Frightening! But did they really die mysteriously? How many husbands were there? A thorough excursion through the records shows us that our great-grandmother Catharina Petersen only had two husbands: one drowned, one died of a heart attack. The implication that she was a murderous spouse is simply not supported by the facts...and facts are our compatriots.

The verifiable stories are just as fascinating as the fanciful ones!

If you prefer legends, genealogy is probably not for you. But if you want to investigate the truth and don't care whether your family stories are debunked, please join us on our journey!