The "clan" genealogy also finds a prominent place in local history. The annals of a town or neighborhood having been given, these are supplemented by monographs on the old families. Beginning with the first settler, his descendants are traced down, each family sketch becoming a "clan" genealogy on a small scale. This feature immensely increases the interest of town histories, and if the tribal genealogy needs any justification, it certainly finds it here. Finally, there is the undoubted fact stated at the beginning of our chapter, that the "clan" genealogy has pre-empted the field. It is the work everywhere met, the book which is in every mind when a genealogy is thought of. Special difficulties attend the compiling of this kind of work, and for the overcoming of these we have prepared a special notebook. It should be remembered that if, instead of counting one man's ancestors, we should reckon one man's descendants, assuming an average, in each family, of three children who become parents, in nine generations some 9,841 descendants would have become parents, each with a wife or husband, making a total of 19,682 to appear in the tribal book, without counting descendants that leave no issue! After the ninth generation the tribe grows with leaps and bounds that are truly mighty. A single additional generation, the tenth, would add a new crop of no less than 39,366 husbands and wives, making a total of 59,048 tribesmen entitled to a place in the book! And the eleventh generation--but peace! Our little work on the joys of genealogical research shall not be marred by the statistical bore who tries to scare with his wretched arithmetic! In truth, formidable as the "clan" genealogy sometimes is, at present it seldom takes in ten generations, while our estimate of family increase is perhaps too great. And what genealogist, though he beg and implore information of the later generations, sending out hundreds of eloquent letters, is ever able to make a complete exhibit of a great tribe? Our figures should not terrify, therefore, but simply compel proper appreciation of the problem of the notebook. How shall the data for a whole tribe be preserved until the day of compilation, and how can we keep it from becoming a jumbled miscellany that will drive us to despair? The terror of the notebooks first dawned upon us just as we thought we had the matter well in hand. It was our first extensive investigation, and as the ancestral names increased on our research list we found that we must make a choice of methods. Should we search the authorities for one name at a time? Many advise this to avoid confusion, on the principle of choosing the lesser of two evils.