Portuguese acestory: family legend please help?

Question

i have a good reason to believe that my family on my maternal side is a direct link to the House of Braganza. i really want to find out if its true. be more specific than " go onto ancestory.com" cause i dont no how to approach this. family legend is we had someone who was royalty who pretty much fell in love with someone who wasnt royalty. she was a dutchess or countess or something like that. my mother had also someone randomly approach her one day saying that he had found her from a ancestory search and believed my mom was his 4th cousin and told her pretty much the same story which makes me think that this has to be true. help please anyone!

Answer 1

Oh, boy.  Keep an open mind. The story you tell is among the best known of genealogical urban legends.. ie, almost sure to be false. Others are the Cherokee princess, and 5 brothers came to America.

The reason behind these traditions is that we are human, and who would not rather be a princess or aristocrat, than just a regular person? In the 1800s, grandma tells what she heard, when she was a little girl, to your grandma, and no one had any records (then) to show it was fanciful thinking. And most experienced genealogists have heard the family stories, then found the actual records. Just because someone else has heard the story, does not make it fact. Aunt Mary will not appreciate hearing this.. she likes her "royal lineage" more than research.

There are two things to do. One.. research your line USING DOCUMENTS that you can show to be valid. You will find the facts. Solid genealogy is based in "if you don't have the proof, you don't know it".  

http://www.chivalricorders.org/royalty/f...

Second, there is in fact a story re the House of Braganza, and you can read the official rebuttal here. Then, the home page gives factual information, that you can compare to your own research.

http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm

I often suggest the beginner section at cyndis, for getting started, but you might want to see this area, relating to what is not always true in genealogy, and how to find good information.

If Aunt Mary does not believe you, don't argue.

Answer 2

I think every family out there has some family legend of some sort, often false. I remember reading somewhere that 85% of all white southerners claim Native American heritage. I think you can safely say that 85% are NOT of native descent.

Now I can tell you of a story in my family... my mother and grandmother used to always say we had African ancestry back there somewhere because my grandfather used to say we had an African in the family. Turns out granddad was talking about a cousin of his who married a black girl. So you need to keep in mind that often people mishear things or misunderstand things and since genealogy is not a hobby of theirs, they don't follow up on it too much.