Quote Originally Posted by Cygnus View Post
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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!
It's true that family stores often get mangled over the years, but sometimes they can have a grain of truth that verifies more reliable research, and they can also be helpful in pointing you in the right direction.

There is an example in the Gilmores. One of my relatives in the 1930's wrote down a family history based solely on what she had been told over the years. She started with a mangled version of the story of the first of the Gilmore/Morrisons being shipwrecked and clinging to driftwood, etc, as is told in the clan histories. She got the location wrong, as well as several other bits of information, but the fact that the story had been passed down for some 200 years since they/we came to America lent it its own kind of credibility.