[Scoutmaster]

The girl searched more than a half million names for months.

I'm calling fraud on her claim of 500,00 names over 'months.' Even if done over a year, that's more than a thousand names a day. Before 1860 or 1850, the US Census records only list the name of the head of household, and the number of persons by sex by decade of age in the household. If you want their names, then you need to find wills and deeds or family bibles - primary records, many of which are in private hands or in courthouses and are not accessible online.

Published family histories by the DAR or others are not accurate (I have one documented Revolutionary War ancestor who is claimed on over thirty different accepted DAR genealogical records).

Please 'splain how she had time to go through primary family records for over a thousand people a day for months on end.

I've easily spend weeks working on a single name when looking at the pre-1850 period. I realize these were prominent families - but she still looked at over 500,000 names. At a thousand a day, and five minutes each (riiiiiiiiiiight), that's 83 hours per day.

[driftdiver]

Are you logged on?

[Kirkwood]

She probably only did computerized genealogy searches and made the decision to filter the results for the most likely common ancestor, John Lackland, because he was already known to be an ancestor for 20 presidents. With a directed search, it would take no time at all.

[Aliska]

Published family histories by the DAR or others are not accurate (I have one documented Revolutionary War ancestor who is claimed on over thirty different accepted DAR genealogical records).

Doubtless that is true. My grandma isn't in any records I've found anywhere, and I have her letter of acceptance by her local chapter. That was a big deal in small towns. I was never interested. I only have two or three who fought, and would have a hard time proving any of them with the exactitude they should require. I think their records can be an aid if you do more independent research. A mistake can get replicated indefinitely.

[Domangart]

You are correct. A birth here and a death there and I would be the king of Scotland and that lower part. Far too many people rely an connections that are never there. How can a descendant of The Donald come from Egypt to Ireland when the DNA shows Norway. In the middle ages they wanted to have links made for them that were unreal. There was one person in some counties that could read and right.

[waxer1]

I am also a family genealogist. I am with you. impossible. Weeks how about months on one name! LOL. It is fun though.

Happy Hunting.