Show ancient family claims scoffed at by experts persons who nho like to trace their ancestry back to william the conqueror or to some other famous hero of history were ridiculed in it a recent address before the society of genealogists in london by the british genealogical expert T R thomson the majority of such claims rest mr thomson explained upon similarity ot of surnames but this Is of no value at all since the general use of 0 surnames or family names jamess dates back only a little more than 20 years another difficulty is the fact established by all geneale gen genealogical ealo cical researches that families and family names invariably tend to become extinct in a relatively few generations the family blood may survive more or less diluted by intermarriage but this usually Is extremely difficult to trace since the necessary exact records are lacking |