[Fairview]

I think Charleston is a special case. I never had any problem there, because I can point to a couple of ancestors who were merchants in Charleston back in the 1830s, but they can be a little standoffish to outsiders.

That's one thing about many places in the South and very few in the North: there's much more emphasis on who your people are, and having the right ancestors can open social doors. You can even form a type of kinship with people whose ancestors fought in the same unit as your ancestors during the War. Interestingly no one in the South has ever sought to verify what I've said about who my people are; they just accept it.

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, you can't really lie about stuff like that and get away with it for long. Besides, why would anybody lie about it? or care, if it weren't true?

[NonLinear]

Interestingly no one in the South has ever sought to verify what I've said about who my people are; they just accept it.

We assume a person is telling the truth until it has been shown that they are a liar. Then we believe pretty much nothing of what they say.