from your ancestors. Family stories get passed down and you believe them and internalize them. My grandfather and his distant cousin got to thinking they were descendant from a family that was in the French court: Sully. When I went to France I stopped in at thei city house that was still named after them and I think had my picture taken there. It was only when I did genealogy and followed the family and name way back almost a 700 years in England that I realized it was in no way true. Some good came out of it. When my grandfather stopped in Paris during the occupation by the allies during and/or after WWII, he looked up the family name and found someone by that name who were struggling. He gave them some money. Sometimes the family stories totally compute when you do research on them. I've had that happen too. And am now trying to verify one such myth a little further. The basics of it match exactly so far as can be proved on a baptismal certificate. The story is true up to that point. I need more information on the rest of the story. Point is if you are called to the bar and fill out a card you are at the point in your life where you are still buying into the story of one branch or another. And you identify with that. You are the base of the tree. Then you get married and have kids and your children are the focus of all the stories for a generation. Then when you suddenly have time because your kids are almost grown you take a second older look at your history. With adult eyes. And compare notes. And maybe do a little genealogy using more modern resources.
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