Myths and Fantasies

As a serious family historian I like to ensure the accuracy of my tree as far as possible. True we all make mistakes and that is understandable. What really annoys me is the glaring errors now abounding with the advent of the internet and the copying of such fantasies as if they have been thoroughly researched and the ambition of being descended from King Arthur rightly achieved. Sadly, with no offence intended, many of these trees I see on line seem to have their creation in poor research by our American cousins who fail to understand the geography and history of our country and will yelp with glee if Family Search comes up with a matching name wherever the birth and on the basis it’s only a tiny country, they all know each other add it their tree especially if they can then prove the link to the founding fathers.

As I find fantasy trees and mythological gods which have been adding to trees which contain my ancestor’s I intend to highlight them below.

My Vincent Family Myth

I created the online tree that contains my Vincent Ancestor’s, this was from original research and archive materials of which I have copies. However, many online trees have the family alternating between various location such as Devon, Dorset and Hampshire all of which are totally wrong as the family was firmly based in Northolt and surrounding area in Middlesex for over 300 years. The wildest realms of fantasy are those trying to link them to the founding fathers of America where some seem to think that children could be both born in Northolt and America in the same year, obviously they jumped on a plane in the 1600’s.

Fornjot the Friendly Giant

Tracing my family to the first Duke of Normandy takes you on a journey through the Vikings. This is via the Icelandic and Orkney Sagas and you end up with the first Viking Fornjot. The actual evidence contains much that is unproven but fun nevertheless.

Fornjót (Old Norse Fornjótr) is an ancient giant in Norse mythology, the father of Kári, of Logi, and of Hlér or Ægir (the ruler of the sea) and a king of Finland.

In the Orkneyinga saga and in Hversu Noregr byggdisk (How Norway Was Settled), Fornjót is portrayed as a king ruling over Gotland and Jutland, "which is called Finnland (the land of the Sámi) and Kvenland [the Finnish-settled part of northern Norway]". Some editors alter "Gotland" or "Jutland" to "that land".[3] In those two sources, Fornjót has three sons: Logi ('fire'), Kári ('wind'), and Hlér ('sea'), "whom we call Ægir" according to Fundinn Noregr.

Ancestor of the House of Yngling

Fornjótr appears as an ancestor-figure of the kings of Norway in several sources.[4] Here follows one rendering of a mythic Yngling family tree based on Historia Norwegiæ, Ynglinga saga, Beowulf and other Old Norse sources, some of which name Fornjótr. The names of Swedish kings are shown in bold.

My descent from Adam and Eve

My Tyrell Family links have much sound genealogy but one of the more bizarre theories was published in a booklet entitled Descendent Lines of Adam and Eve leading to First Duke of Normandy Rollo. The book rolls back through time to 4010 BC which is accordingly the year the world was created. On Kindle at £2.50 I couldn’t resist this trip through fantasy and the supposed evidence of Genesis. Recommended reading if you believe you may be descended from Adam and Eve which of course we all are!