A Swan in Search of his "True" Clan

[macwilkin]

Maybe it's the genealogist in me, but I would try as hard as possible to ascertain which clan my ancestors were associated with, if any, before making any claims or spending a lot of money on clan paraphenalia based on incomplete information. A wrong conclusion could steer others in your family wrong for generations to come.

In genealogy, as you probably have discovered, after a point one spends more time sorting through other people's misinformation than one does in original research. When we build on suppositions, we can create a genealogical edifice that can come tumbling down, forcing us to start from an earlier point, and lamenting years wasted in fruitless research.

Making things up to me is the worst of genealogical sins. I would advise against narrowing down the list of possible clans and then going with one that has the most appeal. It's perfectly fine to say that we don't have enough information to support further conclusions. We all get to that point sooner or later. Even those of us who have provable descents from Charlemagne and his family (as far back as one can reliably go in European genealogy) have to draw the line with his immediate ancestors. His great grandmother Berthe may or may not have been a Merovignian, and if she was, there are another two or three centuries of provable ancestors. But the last I heard, we just don't know.

Spt on.

My sentiments exactly - the Clan Gunn tartan tie I received as a gift a few years back has only been worn a few times and hasn't been "accessorized" for that very reason.



I'm getting close to that point, I think - my problem is that I'm a bit "tight fisted" and am reluctant to pay the subscription fees most genealogy-sharing websites charge.



Also my sentiment - I don't take any "family stories" as gospel, simply because the tendency for most people is to "exaggerate" the truth to improve the family's historical standing. After a few generations of such exaggeration, one quickly becomes the long-lost heir to the throne rather than the descendant of a weaver or swineherd!

Don't forget that many local public libraries provide FREE access to several of the "pay-per-view" sites such as Ancestry and Heritagequest, as well as othe FREE genealogical services.

T.