> My father-in-law had about 6 generations worth of data on his family
> surname, Garrabrant. There is tons of information online on them.
> Many large families in each generation, they were early settlers of
> New Amsterdam, Brooklyn, Long Island, New Jersey, and Rockland
> County, NY. Lots of local colonial and pre colonial history books
> with info on them as well as GEDCOMs. I stumbled across a GEDCOM
> that matches 98 percent perfect with what I have and goes back to
> medieval times. Seems to have good citations and references.
> Should I trust something like this? When tracing a family line how
> many branches should you pull into your own tree? This is more like
> a forest than just one tree?
>
> http://www.gencircles.com/users/kimbo8867/1/bysurname?Garrabrant
>
> Steven Stone <xxspfleck@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
With a 98 percent match (even if is lower than that), it sounds like
you hit the mother lode of data. Presuming your own research is
well done, and the GEDCOM uses source material you do not have, I
would say this information is a boon to your advancement. In which
case, congratulations on your *very* lucky find! Just be sure to
make reference to the GEDCOM and where you found it. (After all, it
is only fair to cite the person who provided so much good
information!)
As for reaching beyond the 1600-1550 range, I would suggest that
such documentation gets fuzzier and fuzzier the further back in time
one goes. Granted, there are examples of well documented lineages
reaching into the 900s. That said, many of those "genealogies"
proving so-and-so is related to Charlemaine are very iffy
speculation. Thus, if you leave such info in your own data, be sure
to mark the limit(s) of your own research and label the rest as WAG
(wild ass guess!) or SWAG (super wild ass guess!)
Regards, Arnold
<><><><><<><><><><><><>
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<aepalmer@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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My family crest is a ****eld with a crossed knife and fork
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