Ancient Lines
I have just found, here on Family Search, one line that purports to extend clear back to Julius Caesar. To me, it seems ... well ... "iffy." How reliable are lines that extend past about 1500? In other words, should I even bother putting in the work to add such lines to my files?
Answers
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My answer to "should I even bother" is "nope".
Don't get me wrong: fantasy genealogy can be a fascinating topic. Just don't expect any of it to be true.
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"Fantasy genealogy." That's a good term! I'll remember that.
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What I have done with lines such as this is to send out chatty emails to family about the history surrounding such individuals who may or may not be our actual ancestors. I’ve sent emails such as happy Battle of Hastings day, Happy Battle of Bosworth day, what did our Saxon Beast Ancestors do, Viking Invaders were our family, At least one Islamic Invader took a Spanish wife, We sacked Rome, etc. I make a point that these are unproven lines, and my hope is to increase interest in history. Some of my emails were very popular, generating several weeks of banter about modern family traits or additional facts thrown in and additional relatives being added on that I didn’t know about. It may be fantasy genealogy but somebody’s ancestors did all that stuff!
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On YouTube there are a bunch of videos by James Tanner on the topic of fantasy genealogies. I find them hilarious.
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