In article <1113114765.766876.234970@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com>,
"Lockehead" <franklocke@mris.com> wrote:
I am a newby, so please be gentle

Two part question:
Part One: I am uncovering many questions about my Beckwith line
which
supposedly goes back to Hugo De Malebisse. I started this search a
few
years back when I came across a book called "Living Descendants of
Blood Royal in America". Now, after digging deeper, I am seeing
referrences that this is a "false" line. Can anyone comment on this
?
Part Two: Before I heard that this was a "false" line, I engaged
one of
the Heralds at the College of Arms to do some research. His
findings
were that the line was acceptable as far as armorial bearings were
concerned, but he found no proofs that George Beckwith (christened
at
Featherstone Castle, Wilthsire-1605 d. London 1676) was the son of
Thomas Beckwith (b.1569 d. 1615) and Barbara Milbourne (d. 1644).
All
of the reference books, including, "The Beckwiths" by Paul Beckwith
simply assume that George was the son of Thomas and Barbara. Can
anyone
point me in the right direction toward proofs of this relationship?
Should I delete this family connection from my database?
Are you talking about George Beckwith of St. Mary's County, Maryland?
As
you posted yesterday to the Beckwith Family Genealogy forum
(genealogy.com), the first thing is to prove that the Maryland man is
the one connected to a particular baptism record in 1605, with
particular parents. What is the evidence for this? 95% of claimed
English lines begin with the wishful assumption of a particular
identity
for an American immigrant whose origin cannot actually be proved.
Even
if the assumed identity cannot be disproved, it is more than likely
to
have derived from wishful thinking--finding a man of the same name
mentioned in a visitation pedigree--than to be based on any
independently verifiable fact or tradition worthy of credence.
Where was his ancestry first claimed in print--perhaps before the
publication of the _Living Descendants of Blood Royal_ volume, but
perhaps not? What do various compilers of early Maryland families
(e.g.
Harry Wright Newman) have to say about him?
Nat Taylor
a genealogist's sketchbook:
http://home.earthlink.net/~nathanieltaylor/leaves/