Conclusion of Research on Susan Bailey's Ancestry

Most Forum members are aware of Susan Bailey’s book THE TWAIN SHALL MEET (co-authored by Deborah Gosselin), which sets forth the theory that Susan is Samuel Clemens’s great-granddaughter. As many of you know, I have been researching this claim and the support cited for it, both documentary and genetic. I have finished the study, and unfortunately my conclusion is that Susan was mistaken in her belief. I have written up my findings, and the report has just been posted on twainquotes.com<http://twainquotes.com/>.

http://www.twainquotes.com/Carkeet/AncestryReport.html

The report is written for the general reader unfamiliar with the subject, so it is both an introduction to the story and a consideration of the evidence. In the course of my work, I had massive help from many Twainians, almost all of them named in the report at one point or another, but a special thanks goes to Barb Schmidt for her steady and insightful assistance throughout.

Thanks too to these collections for permission to publish previously unpublished photos and documents: Burton Historical Collection, Detroit Public Library; Kevin Mac Donnell, Mac Donnell Rare Books, Austin, Texas; L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University; Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford; Mark Twain Project, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

If you have questions about the report, I will be happy to answer them.

--David Carkeet  [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>