Ancestry/Genealogy

On FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com - or any other online genealogy site, for that matter - there are a lot of inaccurate trees. The insidious part is that many people do not check the information so the inaccuracies spread.

I use both of the sites mentioned for research but I do not rely on other people's trees. I use the sites to get access to original documents. Occasionally if I hit a dead end I check to see if other people have found sources I missed. Too often, the other trees have not checked the data thoroughly and have added information that is not correct.

As for your bad news - I have known pretty much all my life that my ancestors owned slaves. My Mom began researching her family tree when I was a kid. I taught myself to type so I could transcribe wills, deeds, and other documents for her. This was at the same time our schools were being desegregated. Nothing like finding that your xxx great grandfather owned dozens of slaves and divided them up among his children - when you have to turn around and go to school with kids whose xxx great grandparents were slaves.

Cool about the family from Aquitaine! All I know about it is that is where Eleanor of Aquitaine came from. I learned that from The Lion in Winter.