In a message dated 7/25/03 7:13:07 PM Central Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

>
>
>     I wish the court records included more female activity rather than the
> tradition of listing all property in the males name.  That would make it
> easier for us.
>

Anyone who is only interested in the male line isn't very interested in
genealogy.  After all, they say that about 12% of the population are bastards.
This means that in those big old families that one out of every eight children
might not be legitimate.  The mamas know who they give birth to, but the poor
daddies just have to hope that the child is theirs.  This will get your
genealogy down a dark hole rather quickly if you spend your time chasing families that
are really not your ancestors.  This is not to say that you should give up on
the male lines.  It only means you need to be very careful and work BOTH male
and female lines as hard as you can.  After all, the mamas have daddies
also...you just have to hope they are the real daddies.  So, let's work on ALL of
our ancestors just as hard as we can.

Jno

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