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Introduction | |||||||||||||||
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If
all searches are based on surnames (and nothing else exists) then some
know-how is required. The purpose of this article and this web site is
an attempt to set straight some of the old wives tales relating to the
origin of surnames. Your name is the only key to the past, your birth surname,
no matter which way you go, no matter which method you use. And for those
unsure of their own identity, there are adoption web sites to help in the
quest.
Sure, you can change your surname, but it really doesn't go away. Without it you're in deep, extra-terrestrial space, without a compass, not even an astrolabe. We will at least open a forum of thought about a subject which has escaped the attention of modern analysis techniques and derives its frequently absurd conclusions from a Victorian melting pot of superficial conjecture, romance, snobbery, class distinction and exaggeration, all embroiled into a variety of self-serving motives and needs. Frequently these authors are our only popular and quick reference to your inquiries. They are a very lazy man's one line reference, which is oft repeated by word of mouth. Or, as some people do, you can simply create your own history. 'I came from a bunch of sheep stealers or horse/cattle thieves' is a very popular apology for one's ancestral past. Geneticists have proved genetic links in families many centuries ago. The only continuity is your surname, the only genetic connection, no matter which direction your search may take you. That is the name of the game, the name of the gene. Game over. Fifty years ago the great fear was the nuclear holocaust. Today its genetics. Over the last twenty or thirty years there's been a groundswell, a profound, uneasy apprehension that it may be survival time, for each of us, and our race. To reveal what the future holds you may need to look over your shoulder to the past, and, in light of these recent developments, perhaps the far distant past of your race. The genetic code, the DNA, now looms large in all our lives, and not just for our own well being, but those who will follow. If your reprieve lies in history, you will need signposts. |
Introduction
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Copyright 1996 Hall of Names International traceit@traceit.com Tel: 613.548.3406 Fax: 613.548.0673 US Only: 1-866-My-Roots