As we stated earlier, one of the great things about working with genealogists over the years is that we have yet to encounter anyone who has intentionally misrepresented any material. But that does not always mean that the information reported is accurate, only that it is accurate to the best knowledge of the person doing the investigation.

Let's look at some representative challenges we face when doing genealogical work.

• When early censuses were taken literacy was often lower for both the census takers and those being interviewed. Spelling was often done phonetically and this leads to many innacuracies in the census data.
• Handwriting is always subject to interpretation by the reader. We are in possession of many pre Civil War letters that can almost be read, but not entirely.
• During the Civil War many records in the South were destroyed, especially in the path of Sherman's march to Savannah, and then subsequently into South Carolina.
• Some people intentionally falsified birth dates to get into or out of military service.
• Marriage dates are sometimes changed to hide various family secrets.
• Many families have boxes full of very nice family photographs that no one bothered to make notations on as to who the people are, and therefore these treasures are nothing more than a box of pictures.
• Popular names often repeat in families, often outside of direct lines where a person might be named for Great-Uncle George and have the same name as Uncle George's own son or grandson.
• Popular politicians and prominent people are often the subject of family names, leading researchers to false conclusions about relationships.
• And the list goes on, and on........

But it is the very nature of these challenges that makes genealogy the great hobby that it has become for so many. When you solve one of these mysteries for your family it is like unlocking a door to the past, or solving the biggest jigsaw puzzle imaginable.

Along this path of looking for the facts, one encounters many challenges and at times might report what you believe to be accurate, only to find out that it is not completely true. When that happens we strongly encourage you to get in touch with us and let us pass the corrections back to the person who reported the information to us.

What We Block

Generally we block Information on living individuals and anyone born after 1915 is assumed to be living unless we have a death date for that person.

What We Do Not Block

We find that with modern internet connections and the popularity of genealogy as a hobby, the quantity of information available to any researcher is staggering to say the least. Usually we receive questions from people who are surprised that we are tracking a piece of data like a deceased person's Social Security Number, when that information is available from many, many sources on the internet to anyone. The problem is that the person inquiring is not aware of the availability of the data and is genuinely surprised. This list goes on for obituaries, Bible records, military records, biographies, employment records, speeches, publications, and yes even some DNA.

So we try to draw the line on inclusion based on the general availabililty of similar information to any serious researcher. This dividing line is probably not perfect, but it does seem like a practical limitation.