The requirements of genealogy are: First, an "eye single to the truth"; second, a power of sharp, clear and logical statement of facts, a methodical way of sifting, collating and arranging them, a capacity of seeing and using the deductions which arise from them, and, particularly, caution against a too ready reception of all sources of information; third, the true genealogist should eminently possess, both from nature and practice, the judicial cast of mind, holding his judgment in such perfect equipoise that it cannot be easily swayed by personal prejudices or extraneous influences; fourth, above all, the characteristic which distinguished the best genealogist is, what has been happily described as “a relentless objectivity in the pursuit of facts. . . . "  The opinions of the genealogist should be so carefully based on facts, and so fortified by references and authorities, that his every statement should have the weight and value of a solemn affirmation.

Yet, in spite of careful training and conscientious effort, some professional genealogists make errors. I have in mind one case where evidence was sought to confirm the relationship of certain persons. After some search a will was found naming all the persons in the problem. The report was prepared and ready to deliver, when the genealogist thought of one more source of information. He procured a census record and learned to his surprise that the will did not fit his problem, because it was made by the son of the man being studied. By a curious circumstance all the members of the two families bore the same names.

Perhaps the most famous error in recent times concerns the account of the kinship of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and General Douglas~ McArthur. It was definitely stated that both Mr. Churchill and President Roosevelt descended from John Cooke, who came in the "Mayflower," and his wife, Sarah Warren, the daughter of Mr. Richard Warren, who also came in the "Mayflower." This account was widely accepted as a record of kinship which would more closely unite our country with Great Britain in this time of stress.

The compiler of the article, unfortunately, had not found a most pertinent record. Mr. Churchill descends from a Daniel Wilcox, Sr., who married not just once, but twice, and the second wife was a daughter of John Cooke, of the "Mayflower." But it was the first wife, name unknown, who was Mr. Churchill's ancestor, as the document proves" hence he is not related to President Roosevelt on this line. This is just another example of not searching far enough.

Perhaps the ultimate in careful genealogy is that used in legal cases. Each item, each date, each place, and each relationship must be established by a recognized and accepted legal document. In contests over some estates, not just one record, but as many as five or six legal records are used to prove a point. Thus, in addition to a birth record, a marriage record, and a death record, which in ordinary circumstances would be amply sufficient to establish the fact, the technicalities of the particular lawsuit may require a deed or two, a will or two, a court record, and perhaps a census record.

The aim, in legal cases, is to prove the relationship beyond any possibility of contradiction. Such work really constitutes not only careful genealogy, but also scientific genealogy.

It is, not my intention to insist that all my listeners become "legal-genealogists," but it is my intention to point out that the skill and care used in legal cases should sooner or later, be applied to every compilation. Then, and only then, will we have the family history on which we can depend, and of which we will always be proud.