The Jesus Presidents: Holy Grail Holy Presidents Holy Nation by L.E. Cooper
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I'm giving this book an extra star ONLY because I know how difficult it is to do genealogical research. Researching my family history has been my life's work. That said, I also know how important it is to: cite sources, pay attention to dates, attribute the right child to the right parent, and CITE SOURCES.
I came across this book while researching an 11th century ancestor, who I just so happen to share with President James Madison. According to this book, that ancestor is a direct descendant of Charlemagne. Well, this was exciting! It's not the purpose of genealogical research, as I see it, but it's always exciting to find you're directly related to someone so famous - or am I?
While trying to research the information L.E. Cooper lists in this book - the lineage, that is - I'm hitting dead ends and finding mistakes (on the author's part). Children are attributed to the wrong parent, the dates don't add up (children born before their parents were) - and maybe that's just a typo, but still - and there are NO SOURCES CITED.
Where did the author get this information? This wrong information, I should add. There is one person in the lineage that is keeping me from saying, "I'm directly descended from Charlemagne!" But one person - one mistake - is all it takes to go down a completely wrong path in genealogical research.
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