Sustainable Genealogy: Separating Fact from Fiction in Family Legends

by Richard Hite

There are a lot of textbooks that describe how to find your ancestors; this one by Richard Hite clarifies how not to. In short, "Sustainable Genealogy" explains how to avoid the traps many family historians can fall into. Whether it's a proud family legend, a venerable publication, or the claims of an Internet family tree, the unsubstantiated genealogical source is like a house of sticks before the Big Bad Wolf--it won't stand up. As Mr. Hite demonstrates in this collection of case studies, many are the "oral traditions that have fallen by the wayside under the lens of careful research in primary sources and more recently, DNA testing."

Genres: Nonfiction

110 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2013

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I was not expecting to find this very interesting (we all know those tired old family story tropes, yada, yada), but it turned out to be a very engaging book. The author takes on a number of the traditional family myths (Cherokee princess ancestor, famous person ancestor, etc.) and shows how they tend to get started and how to winnow out the grain of truth that sometimes lies inside them. What makes this interesting is his examples from his own genealogical research. I would recommend this book to anyone starting (or continuing!) to research the family roots.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many other Genealogical Publishing Company books, the print is small and there are typos. As for content, this book was entertaining as it delved into researching family myths and discovering if there is any truth to them.

For a new genealogist, learning not to take these family stories as gospel is important to learn. For a more advanced genealogist, reading how these stories began is interesting. Personally, I was happy to see one of my husband's own family legends mentioned in here - that of the Ames family descending from King James.

This was a fairly quick read, although the small print was difficult for me. Some of the information is repetitive. Although this is a 2013 book, there is very little dated material, mainly just mentioning a few websites.

[Marfita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Using examples from mostly his own family, Hite points up the mistakes that can be made in genealogy. You can't even trust death certificates, especially those filled out by in-laws or family members who never really knew the deceased. And whose family doesn't have someone with a putative Cherokee ancestor? And why is it always Cherokee? (Okay, my family - they're all boringly German.) You need to verify everything with primary sources - and published family genealogies and county histories are just as bad as oral accounts. He didn't mention Find A Grave, but that's another one you can't trust because families fill them out with what they know. It's helpful for hints, but sometimes you just have to virtually tear it up and throw it away.
Hite has found really interesting family history by discounting oral histories and really digging. He and his father traveled to locations to look at hard copy records. While the internet can save you some legwork, it is also full of bogus information, just like with anything else.
What this book really inspires me to do is write about my experiences in genealogy and what I've learned about my boring old German forebears. F'rinstance, we had the death information about my mother's maternal grandfather that said he died from an opium overdose. But Ancestry dot com was able to call up a newspaper account of how he was drunk at the time he took the opium and how doctors had tried to save him to no avail because he was so thoroughly poisoned. There was also a church marriage register that gave the name of his town in Germany, which is all that is known about his origins. But it was more than we had before.
Caveat genealogy emptor!

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book about family traditions and family stories that most of us have in our own families. Many families have a story of being related to someone famous, or have an ancestor who had a connection to a famous person. Or, there may be a story of an amazing military experience or a story of Native American ancestry. Sustainable genealogy refers to facts that can be proven, and as the author presents examples from his own family, he shows that often the events cannot be proven and are more likely to be proven untrue, much to the unhappiness of older family members who have happily repeated them throughout their lives. This book is a good reminder to all of us genealogists to document everything! My only negative comment is that the print type is quite small; I wished it had been a little larger.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prime lesson of this interesting, short book is, Question oral and "written" oral history by checking all you have heard in primary sources. This is often thought of as a tedious task to those of us used to quick results from internet research, but well worth the lessons learned. Our real ancestry may not in the end match up with the information grandma told us, or county histories recorded (from what the old-timers told those authors), or even what death certificates record; but everyone's family history is fascinating when documented as true and when fleshed out, so this lesson in "do your research" is welcome and invigorating. I hope others are equally inspired to document from the beginning their family stories and ancestral family members.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book (110 pages). It focuses on some of the 'wrong paths' the author could have ended up on with his own family tree had he not verified everything using documented source materials. Even something you heard from Grandma needs to be verifiable before you add it to your family tree, just in case some else gave her bad info. Stories can morph over the years and end up very different from the real story. I only gave it a four because the font size is very small and difficult to read.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book for anyone interested in pursuing family history. Makes you aware of the pitfalls of family oral history. I have spent a lot of time debunking the stories about famous ancestors that were rife in my own family's oral history. Every beginning genealogist should read this book. It will save you time and effort later.

[Michelle Monticello · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've been raised on family stories (and who hasn't been?) this is a good lesson on how to separate truth from fiction. Mr. Hite gives lots of examples of how he looked into family stories of his own as well as the stories of others. After reading this book, I'm looking at my tree with fresh eyes to make sure I'm not running down paths that might lead me astray.

[Rosemary Cantrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book to present a review of it to a genealogy group. The review will be very positive. Hite is a great storyteller and made the important points about carefully checking out all family stories with the use of his own stories. I learned some good things for general research, as well as focusing in on the stories.

I would recommend that every genealogist should read this book. So many family stories are based in truth, but have been "added upon" during the years. We need to be sure to get back to the actual truth. How much better to know the true stories of our ancestors. They are often better than the stories that have been passed down.

[Eileen Lachapelle perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

less about his tree would have been nice