Snake oil salesmen and folks who need snake oil and how they relate to our Genealogy

Snake oil salesmen and folks who use their product(s) are made for each other. Snake oil salesmen used to be on every corner and now they are all over television and on the internet. And like religion, it seems that if snake oil salesmen are not selling something somewhere we go looking for them.

Genealogy is no different. Folks are looking for heroes and heroines, or some attachment to the king or queen or some illustrious person(s). And there are some of these in our trees, but for the most part not so much or in the distant dim past.

Or trying to erase folks who we prefer to not have as relatives or anywhere close to us in our "tree". It seems like rogues are ok 6-7 generations back, especially if they are famous rogues. Not so famous rogues are not so welcome. Trying to whitewash what these rogue relatives did is another example of dealing with them in our trees, maybe letting them be there, just not mentioning that they are there. There are some relatives who do not want to see who their relatives are rather than have someone there who is unsavory.

There is additional information in an older post, read about it further here. Or click on the page at the link below:

http://nuevomejicano.blogspot.com/2013/12/you-can-choose-your-friends-you-cannot.html

Anyway, snake oil salesmen have a keen understanding of human nature and figure out how to get us to buy their products. With genealogy, they do not have to hunt us down, we go looking for the products our selves, always searching for the connection to the hero and always trying to avoid the rogues.

Like I used to hear a long time ago "you soy quien soy, y no me paresco an nadie". I am who I am, and I do not look like anyone. In reality we are who we are, a conglomerate of all of our ancestors, the good, the bad and the ugly.