Family relationships provide a rich field of study for us all whether
"legal" or "extra legal." The "bloodline" (if we can find it) is only
part of the story. How Benjamin Franklin treated his "extra legal" family
provides good insight into a point which HW makes, the same for the
Jefferson/Hemmings research. The definition of family can never be truly
understood without an examination of all the evidence. Drawing inferences
from the evidence (even the minutia as PD points out) is sometimes tricky
but always facsinating. Sometimes people acually lie under oath on a
"document." That is why, after years of assumptions concerning the legal
doucmentation, we are sometimes thrown a curve when conflicting evidence
surfaces. This exchange concerning marriages and living arrangements which
may violate the conventions of the time is helpful. It gives historians
and genealogists a basis for interpreting the evidence and ideas for
examining new material they find. This isn't rocket science but it is
still important that we are always curious and that we make every effort to
get it right.
Rob
> [Original Message]
> From: Paul Drake <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2/6/2006 2:30:28 PM
> Subject: Re: Marrying deceased wife's sibling
>
> I guess we must differ ever so slightly. I feel that acceptable
genealogical research, and surely family writings, demand that everything
we have uncovered (minutia usually excepted) should be included for
consideration by others.
>
> Then too, in my view careful writers assign and include the measure of
evidentiary weight that he/she may accord each bit of material set out from
which his/her conclusions have been drawn. Again in order that I, the
reader, may agree, disagree, differentiate, or otherwise find great value,
find no worth whatever, or something in between, in such gatherings of
evidence.
>
> I can not count the times that folks even on this fine list have differed
as to the validity or interpretation of this or that uncovered fact. So it
is that I do not want some unknown researcher - no matter his/her
credentials - to grade evidence for me. Whether a scrap of information is
labeled primary, hearsay, conclusive, a "clue", legalese, or any other of
those highly subjective, indefinable and nearly useless terms, I want to
make my own decisions as to the weight all evidence deserves.
>
> With but a simple sentence, a writer may set forth very powerful
evidence, and in the next breath and sentence reveal other theories and
evidence of lesser value and weight that some other researchers have
thought important and reliable. In fact, I think those who write other
than "trial balloon" material have a duty to so reveal other theories and
interpretations.
>
> I know nothing of and have less than a passing interest in the
Jefferson/Hemings debate. However, should I gain an interest therein, I
want to read all the evidence available, no matter how miniscule such
evidence may be or in what direction that material may lead me.
>
> Notice, I did not say that I particularly want to be told of the
conclusions of others as to the interpretation to be given that evidence.
Still though, I likely will read and consider such hypotheses as have been
stated, all the while separating all theories from the facts.
>
> So, set out all the evidence known and all other theories of what should
be drawn from those facts. Permit me to measure, draw conclusions, and feel
free to reveal ideas different from your own. Intellectual integrity is
what it is all about. Anything less than that only leaves me to re-research
what you have rejected.
>
>
> Genealogy without documentation is nothing.
> Paul Drake JD
> Genealogist & Author
> <www.DrakesBooks.com>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Henry Wiencek
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Monday, February 06, 2006 12:20 PM
> Subject: [VA-ROOTS] Marrying deceased wife's sibling
>
>
> I too do not wish to be contentious, but I think there's a very
important
> point lurking here. Legal marriage and actual kinship were/are two
> different things, as we all know. Genealogy concerns itself largely
with
> the legal, documented relationships. The problem arises when we allow
> ourselves to think that the documents define reality. I would suggest
that
> if a person suddenly had a life-and-death need to locate blood
relatives,
> that person would be extremely interested in identifying and finding the
> "side family" his grandfather had. So then, in that case, what is the
> genealogical "reality"--the documented family or the undocumented
family?
>
> Historians and biographers are interested in kinships that may have been
> extra-legal or illegal, because these kinships illuminate our
understanding
> of the past. It is fascinating to find evidence of 18th-century people
> being aware of their extra-legal kin and acting on that knowledge.
Thus,
> did so-and-so bequeath land to so-and-so because they were secretly
father
> and son, or uncle and nephew, or cousins, or nothing at all to each
other?
> Some folks--and I do not mean to include Ms. Holland here--have tried
to
> shut down research along such lines by saying "there's no documentation
for
> that; you have no basis for saying that." In some cases, the people of
the
> 18th century had a more flexible definition of "family" than the
definitions
> established by law. The laws enable us to deny the existence of family
> connections which the people of the past may have honored and acted
upon; so
> by adhering strictly to the rules we risk misunderstanding the past.
>
> HW
>
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