Stories told to you by relatives are not always completely true.
Stories told to you by relatives are not always completely false.
The reality is that the “truth” rests somewhere in between.
Take any family story and break it into the parts that might have left a record and those arts that likely did not. Use those parts as clues.
But…remember your goal is not to prove the story. Your goal is to try and find the truth-or at least the evidence that was left behind. The stories should be used to find some direction.
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My mother had four brothers and sisters. When they got together, I would hear five different versions of the same tale.
My mother and her siblings had vigorous discussions when they got together because they remembered the storied differently. No wonder…as there were some 20 children by the same father, and their ages differed by some 35 or 40 years.
Having Native american Ancestry, I have heard the story over and over how Great Grandma was found on the Battlefield as a small baby by an old woman, the only two survivors of a fierce battle between the Sioux and the Chippewa. The old woman was wounded, but managed to get the baby to safety before she died. The baby was raised by a white family. Now parts of this may have happened..when I talk to others that belong to the same Band I do, many have a similar story in their families..either we are all related (possible) or this was a Winter Tale all heard. All I know for certain is my Great Grandmother was Native American and she was raised by a white family. The timing of her birth just does not fit in with any big Sioux-Chippewa Battle. But…it would fit in with my Great, Great Grandmother???
I had a grandmother who was something of a drama queen, and lied so that any story made her look better, braver, more interesting, etc. Finally realized there actually was no kernal of truth in her stories. Sigh. Basic genealogy research helped break through. 🙂