Show Ancient Family Claims Scoffed At by Experts Persons who like to trace their ancestry an an- back to William the Conqueror Conquer Conquer- or or to some other famous hero of history were ridiculed in tn a recent address before the Society of ot GenealogIsts Genealogists Genealogists Ge Ge- in London by the British genealogical expert c T T. T R R. R Thomson The majority of such claims rest Mr Thomson explained upon upon similarity similarity simi simi- larity of surnames but this is of f no value at all since the general use of surnames or U gamily family names dates back only a n little more than years Another difficulty Is the fact established establIshed established by all aU genealogical researches that families and family names Invariably invariably In in- InvarIably variably tend to become extinct become extinct in a relatively few generations The family fam fam- family ily blood may survive sUr more or less diluted by intermarriage but this usually is extremely dit difficult cult to trace since the necessary exact records are lacking |