To lighten up has been my problem since as far back as I can remember... I guess that I was born a curmudgeon. I understand that you aren't even American, being from Nova Scotia increases the likelihood that your sources are legit. Serf and bastard children of nobility should have absolutely no record of their lineage except for the handed down, verbal kind.

My stepmother was totally into genealogy and got me into my own family tree. She traced hers back to the 1500's with all sorts of nobility and interesting connections only to take a DNA test and find out that she is NOT a blood member of her family. Someone was adopted or was posing as having her particular surname. To this day, her genealogy still contains the same info and she pretends like she is still a blood member of that family even though she isn't.

People need to do their genealogy going backwards, not by finding someone that you want to be connected to and then trying to bridge the gap by going forwards.

I have done my genealogy and everything stops after the boat trip to the America's. Unless I see the ship's manifest or passenger list with my own eyes, I won't believe a damn thing about what any genealogist says about the history of my particular family tree. As far as I can tell, there are VERY few ship's passenger list's that have survived.

Have you seen the passenger list from your ancestor's boat ride to Nova Scotia? If your mom wrote a book, I am sure that she must have seen it. How did she get a hold of that record?

My family tree stops about where my fellow African American brothers and sisters do.