With recent advances in geneolical research and dna analysis, some of our best family stories have been debunked. Here are some examples.

Myth: my wife is descended from Bob Womack, the fellow that discovered the Cripple Creek gold and subsequently lost the claim in a poker game.
Fact: Wrong Womack

Myth: My family tree goes back to Francis Hacker, a close aid to Oliver Cromwell and the guy who signed the death warrant for Charles I.
Fact: The story is true but, again, no family connection.

Myth: my wife’s great great grandfather murdered his wife with strychnine. She was bed-ridden and knew she was being poisoned. There is a spoon with her teeth marks.
Fact: She took the strychnine herself in a suicide. Her husband was kind of a rat but not a murderer.

Myth: My mother in law was born in Oklahoma and claimed have some Cherokee blood, enough for some ancestor to be eligible for some sort of land grant. The ancestor declined, not wanting to admit to Indian blood. That land is some of the best oil producing land….
Fact: My wife did 23 And Me and it found no Indian ancestry. It is interesting that our story is exactly the same one that Elizabeth Warren was told. I’ve read that half of Oklahoma claims Native American ancestry.

Maybe Myth: my great*5 grandfather was a guest of Benedict Arnold when the general found out that his British contact had been captured. Arnold excused himself and went on the lamb.
Truth: William Burnet is my ancestor. He was stationed at West Point where Arnold was in command. Being an officer (surgeon), he socialized regularly with Arnold. The problem is that every account of that morning traces back to Burnets son so it’s a single source.

crap! I really liked all those stories.