18 Jan 2004 last update
I earnestly request that you send me e-mails or letters citing original sources (or a lack thereof) to help me correct any errors you find. With your help, the next edition can be more nearly perfect and correct. Thank you very, very much.
I didn't want to dilute that message, so postponed further admonishments to this page.
Genealogical rumors abound. You should be wary of sending information to others containing disproved or suspected rumors. It is always best to send only information you have personally PROVED by finding family bible records, wills, deeds, church records, court documents, or other trustworthy sources of information. Published genealogies fall far short of this standard of proof. Indeed most genealogical publications are full of rumors.
The Rambo Family Tree is no exception, despite the efforts of Beverly Rambo and me to prove as much as possible.
Consider your own reaction when someone sends you information that you KNOW beyond doubt to be bad. Do you trust the rest of the information sent, or do you suspect that it too may be bad? How do you treat that information if you find two or three more things you know to be wrong?
Personally I assume that the rest of the early information from that person is just more unproven junk copied from God knows where.
Here is another way of looking at the issue. Suppose someone gave you a gemstone and told you to treasure it because it is a real diamond. You carry it around for years showing it off and bragging about your diamond. Then one day someone challenges you by telling you that it sure looks like a zirconian crystal to them. Do you bridle and take offense? Of Course! So you take the stone into a reputable dealer who pronounces the stone fake. A second dealer agrees that it is worthless. How do you now feel, especially when someone asks to see your diamond? Genealogy rumors are just as hurtful, just as disappointing, just as hard to swallow. Do you want to be the dupe who passed the rumor on to dozens of unsuspecting, naive beginners?
Always be skeptical no matter whose material you use (even Beverly's and mine).
Anything published contains errors and often contains speculation which is masqueraded as fact. Until you have seen "proof" in "original documents" (such as wills, deeds, court records, family bibles, or the like), all you have is hearsay, one step removed from rumors and speculation.
I do trust one source without question. That is Peter Stebbins Craig. He is a Yale graduate and was a successful D.C. lawyer who retired eary from practice of law. He spent the last twenty years of his life studying ALL the inhabitants of early New Sweden and documented his findings assiduously. By example and in a very few words, he taught me the importance of documenting every source of every iota of information. I now strive to do that despite a huge backlog of previous information that is inadequately documented.
If you want to see a shining example of good documentation, purchase one of his books. It will be money well spent.
Don't even get me started on the subject of estimating dates of marriage and birth. This edition is still chock full of misleading guesstimates like "ca 1820." Why is it that most genealogists cannot stand an empty space? If they have only an approximate date of birth of some child, they will guess that it was the first child and then guess that the marriage was two years earlier and then guess that the birth of the mother was 20 years earlier and that the birth of the father was 22 years earlier. So we find those terribly misleading families with father born ca 1782, mother born ca 1784, married ca 1802, first child born ca 1804 ... all based on the 1850 census of someone who was shown as 46 years old. That is often VERY wrong and usually VERY misleading. DON'T DO THAT. Earlier children might have died, earlier spouses might have died, and the couple might have married late. BAD guestimates only confuse everyone. It is OK to estimate dates for your own use, but please DON'T SEND YOUR GUESSTIMATES to others. Save the expression "ca 1820" for dates actually found in the census or in some other documentation. If you must estimate, label them est. (estimated) instead of ca (about).
Pages of personal interest: Ron Beatty's home page, the Rambo genealogy, Bankston genealogy, the Dorsey Overturff family, cousin Jean's Schenck and Hegeman genealogy, Eric's RPM coins, and Eve's Garden Organic Bed and Breakfast, a wonderful, eclectic, artistic papercrete alternative living learning mecca in Marathon, Texas.