Think about how many descendants one person from 400AD could have. Especially it you assume average progeny of each female being >3.
I worked with the fiance's ancestry, based on the stuff they have going back to 1580. One of the people in the 1800s was the younger son of a younger son of the Lyon family (late Queen Mother as you remember was a Lyon). Once you mae a royal or high noble connection, you've got records as far back as you like.
Is my fiance related to the Queen? In a round about way, sure. I don't seem any keys to any castles arriving in the post.
Indeed. Some friends of mine had navigated back to some of the medieval royals. While I was prepared to believe it, I felt inclined to ask "Well, given that you *can* trace your ancestry back to some of the Lancastrian kings...do you really *want* to be associated with them?" ;-)
Having traced a possible/probable ancestry back to Vortigern, I'm now trying to disprove it. Not that I have anything against the guy who invited the Saxons into Britain, it just seems so ridiculously fairy-tale improbable that I want to get back to reality.
As an American who's lived and worked in England for about seven years now, there's a good reason why I left that LJ community. I just couldn't deal with it any longer. :(
That community is getting harder and harder to read through.
Amongst the ignorance, the willing stupidity, the stereotypes, the trolls, the smartarses, the pointless (and plain mean) sarcasm (if it were funny, it would be great, but it's more smug than real sarcasm, I think), and the inability of 89.5% of the membership to hold an informed debate or grammatically correct conversation it is getting hard to see the point of sticking with it.
Though, every so often there is a useful link or two.
Yeah, the people on the UK-Yankee forum can be appallingly twee sometimes, and seem to be obsessed with what seem like uninteresting stuff to me, but at least they seem generally friendly to newcomers.
Well, you know, strike that. I disagreed with a regular poster there, citing the research I had done for my opinion, and was replied to quite rudely by several people, without anyone ever disputing the basis of the argument I had made.
I *don't* really know what to say to someone like the OP in the thread I linked to, as she seems to me to be living entirely in a fantasyland. Bit I'm glad that some people, including Mari, are being gentle and (as best as possible) helpful, instead of just snarky.
Yeah, UKY is a totally different vibe in general. I feel much more comfortable posting Random Visa Questions there than in b_a . . .and I'm a mod!!!
I try to be as nice as I can in those posts while trying to Keep It Real, because plain and simple, that was me 10 years ago and I wish there had been resources like these online communities when I was that age. Sometimes I do it better than other times, but I did feel sorry for her and I did end up deleting some nasty comments; I don't know if you saw them or not. I was thinking "oh, honey, you've thrown yourself to the wolves". :/
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Date: 2007-05-01 08:27 pm (UTC)How in Hell does she think her uncle has managed to trace the family to 400 BC???? Pretty sure they didn't keep birth records in England back then.
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Date: 2007-05-01 10:27 pm (UTC)Think about how many descendants one person from 400AD could have. Especially it you assume average progeny of each female being >3.
I worked with the fiance's ancestry, based on the stuff they have going back to 1580. One of the people in the 1800s was the younger son of a younger son of the Lyon family (late Queen Mother as you remember was a Lyon). Once you mae a royal or high noble connection, you've got records as far back as you like.
Is my fiance related to the Queen? In a round about way, sure. I don't seem any keys to any castles arriving in the post.
So, possible...but, it's a load of bull.
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Date: 2007-05-01 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 04:52 am (UTC)(Lucky us that being descended from presidents and famous people, the genealogy has mostly been done for us)
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Date: 2007-05-02 06:00 am (UTC)But 400BC? BC, not AD? Come on!
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Date: 2007-05-01 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 08:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 01:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 10:32 pm (UTC)Amongst the ignorance, the willing stupidity, the stereotypes, the trolls, the smartarses, the pointless (and plain mean) sarcasm (if it were funny, it would be great, but it's more smug than real sarcasm, I think), and the inability of 89.5% of the membership to hold an informed debate or grammatically correct conversation it is getting hard to see the point of sticking with it.
Though, every so often there is a useful link or two.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-01 11:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 01:49 am (UTC)Email us with your gripes. We do listen. :) They're our respective LJ handles at livejournal.com.
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Date: 2007-05-02 06:15 am (UTC)Most of what I'm annoyed at...I don't think could be fixed.
No worries. :)
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Date: 2007-05-02 11:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 04:55 am (UTC)I feel so cool now... I'm friending a Londoner!
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Date: 2007-05-02 01:30 pm (UTC)Well, you know, strike that. I disagreed with a regular poster there, citing the research I had done for my opinion, and was replied to quite rudely by several people, without anyone ever disputing the basis of the argument I had made.
I *don't* really know what to say to someone like the OP in the thread I linked to, as she seems to me to be living entirely in a fantasyland. Bit I'm glad that some people, including Mari, are being gentle and (as best as possible) helpful, instead of just snarky.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-02 11:14 pm (UTC)I try to be as nice as I can in those posts while trying to Keep It Real, because plain and simple, that was me 10 years ago and I wish there had been resources like these online communities when I was that age. Sometimes I do it better than other times, but I did feel sorry for her and I did end up deleting some nasty comments; I don't know if you saw them or not. I was thinking "oh, honey, you've thrown yourself to the wolves". :/