Brief Genealogy of U.S. Presidents John ADAMS and John Quincy ADAMS

BIDDLE / BECHTEL (and Variations) Y-DNA Surname Project

Patrilineal Line Ancestry of Leonard Barrie CORBIN, a.k.a., Barry CORBIN, actor

Death and the Dentist:  the CORBIN Ancestry of Murderer, Barton Thomas CORBIN

Ancestors and Descendants of Jefferson DAVIS, President CSA

A Brief Ancestry of Actor Tim HOLT

The HOPKINS Line of Actress Miriam HOPKINS

Pedigree of Outlaw Jesse JAMES

A Brief Ancestry of Actor Jason ROBARDS

A Brief Genealogy of John ROGERS, the Smithfield Martyr
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It isn't enough to compile your pedigree, you need to prove your pedigree.

"Direct ancestor" is redundant.  What would an "indirect ancestor" be?

If you can't prove it, don't believe it — and that applies to everything.

Share the data, don't sell it — a rising tide lifts all boats.

The family group sheets at this web site amount to working hypotheses.  Some sheets are well documented, while others are poorly documented. Please examine the sources — which I always include when I have them — and judge for yourself the validity of each datum on each sheet and each conclusion deduced from those data.  If there is no primary source listed for a datum, consider the datum to have come from one of the general secondary sources, which will be towards the end of the list of sources.  Hypotheses exist to be tested, so I welcome correction.

1.  I began building this site at the same time I began working on my genealogy, in 1998.  I started from scratch on my mother's side of the family, but I had a huge head start on my father's side of the family because his sister, Betty Ann (Matthiesen) Cogliati, and their maternal grandmother, Maude Irene (Thompson) Rose, had worked together on their genealogy for decades before I got involved.

2.  I'm still using the same web design software I started out with, namely, a now obsolete HTML editor known as Netscape Composer (v. 4.8), which I do not recommend using if you are starting out a new web site.  I simply have a tiger-by-the-tail because converting the site at this point would take more time than I care to spend on it. Any HTML editor could construct static pages like mine, there's nothing special about Composer, except that it's extremely easy to use, which is another reason I've been reluctant to part with it.  What makes Composer so obsolete is that it doesn't use CSS (cascading style sheets).  So, if you decide to go with static web pages, like mine, do pick a "modern" application, one that uses CSS. 

However, if you are just getting started, I recommend using a dynamic application, one that creates web pages on the fly from an online genealogy database.  In particular, I recommend TNG, The Next Generation.  If you want to customize it, it has a bit of a learning curve, unless you already understand CSS and PHP.  If you simply use one of the supplied templates, you can get a workable site online without too much grief.  You can upload GEDCOMs to it, so even if you've spent years using some other genealogy application, you can transfer a GEDCOM to TNG and continue to use both or TNG alone, whichever you prefer.

I do, in fact, use TNG on two of my smaller, newer web sites (BiddleEtc and Danish Demes), but neither of these sites is a good example of its power because I haven't gotten the hang of it, yet (understatement — I'm a klutz with it).  It has the huge advantage that my DNA project members can upload their own GEDCOMs to it, so I'm doing my best to find time to improve my skill with it.  If I were just starting out my genealogy web site, I would use TNG.