Greathouse Legends and Lore

"Fanciful traditions not only disagree with truths, but also quarrel among themselves. In the face of consistently contrary evidence of a primary nature--and no supporting documentation at all--such stories must be accepted for what they are: romantic fiction."

Almost every family has folktales. While some hold a grain of truth, many are not supported by the historical record. The most popular are interwoven with Indian lore involving captive whites, frontier conflict, family tragedy, or love affairs. Descendants of both white and red families have accepted these stories without questioning their source or measuring their merit against historical data. Thus, legend becomes "truth" for many people.¹

Some of these stories may be quite factual; others are purely fictitious. Almost all family stories have some grain of truth, however. Family legends aren't usually created out of thin air, and that tiny grain of truth may be the clue that leads you to a genealogical success.

The Greathouse family, of course, has it's share of these legends, myths and stories. In the stories provided below, we have attempted to include any known errors, statements of opinion either for or against the story content , and known evidence or reasons to believe or not believe a particular story.

Please feel free to submit your stories or any additional information you may have for any of the stories included here to Greathouse Point. In consideration of others who may be tempted to either assume a story to be true or false just because it's included here, please include your own statements and opinions regarding the truth and/or error of these stories.

Errors in Early Greathouse Family History

Legends, Myths and Stories

Notes and Reference