Posted: 6:41 PM - Oct 26, 2000
I recently viewed some websites created by some of our cousins who descend from the different "Job" branches of the Robert Mackay family.
Many still have the "Hugh Mackay" connection recorded in them. However, one also has a birthdate for Robert Mackay Jr.
I wonder what the source is for this date?
One also says that the info. used to compile the data came from "family tales" I believe which can help shed some light on the origins of some of this data.
Just so folks understand, I don't flat out dismis a "family tale" unless the facts clearly don't support it.
I do insist that people say above all else that "it is CLAIMED that such and such happened this way" rather than publish it as though it were factual.
This issue has been brought up quite a few times on this forum but people need to be careful when researching the earliest origins of our family not to simply take someone's word on something.
Sometimes a family tale is all we have to go on but unless there are facts to back it up it is nothing more than a claim.
Someone's grandfather was said by relatives to have been born in Switzerland. But how do you really know this? Unless you can find some actual evidence that clearly shows he was born in Switzerland all you have is a claim he was born there.
I've seen tales where the origins of a particular person was totally fabricated to hide something that they either were ashamed of or were hiding from. Such was the case with this lady's grandmother in a recent Rootsweb article.
So, basically the point to what I'm saying here is unless you have facts to back a story up, all you have is merely a claim.
There are so many claims concerning the origins of our Robert Mackay family and the earliest history of it. How many of them are true and how many are not? Only facts will prove or disprove these things.
Many still have the "Hugh Mackay" connection recorded in them. However, one also has a birthdate for Robert Mackay Jr.
I wonder what the source is for this date?
One also says that the info. used to compile the data came from "family tales" I believe which can help shed some light on the origins of some of this data.
Just so folks understand, I don't flat out dismis a "family tale" unless the facts clearly don't support it.
I do insist that people say above all else that "it is CLAIMED that such and such happened this way" rather than publish it as though it were factual.
This issue has been brought up quite a few times on this forum but people need to be careful when researching the earliest origins of our family not to simply take someone's word on something.
Sometimes a family tale is all we have to go on but unless there are facts to back it up it is nothing more than a claim.
Someone's grandfather was said by relatives to have been born in Switzerland. But how do you really know this? Unless you can find some actual evidence that clearly shows he was born in Switzerland all you have is a claim he was born there.
I've seen tales where the origins of a particular person was totally fabricated to hide something that they either were ashamed of or were hiding from. Such was the case with this lady's grandmother in a recent Rootsweb article.
So, basically the point to what I'm saying here is unless you have facts to back a story up, all you have is merely a claim.
There are so many claims concerning the origins of our Robert Mackay family and the earliest history of it. How many of them are true and how many are not? Only facts will prove or disprove these things.