Zara Van Wagenen (daughter of Benjamin) and Sara Van Wagenen the same person?

Question

Is Zara Van Wagenen the Sara Van Wagenen who was married to Dirck Hoornbeck in 1758 at Rochester (Accord), New York?  If so, the profiles need to be merged: Zara:  https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Wageningen-70  Sara: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Van_Wagenen-381

Comments

Is something preventing you from proposing the merge?

The different names are simply variant spellings of the same name (although WikiTree's name search function probably does not recognize all of the variants as the same name). If these are in fact the same girl, the Van Wageningen-70 profile (which is PPP) is the one with the "correct" LNAB according to our naming conventions (because it is the name given for the father at this girl's baptism).

However, before merging, I would want to be sure that these are the same person. There were multiple van Wagenen/Wageningen families in Ulster County at that time, and these mid-1700s people often don't have profiles yet. It can be devastatingly easy to confuse two people with the same name. Similar challenges exist for her husband's name. To give confidence that the girl baptized in 1730 is the one who married in 1758, before merging I would want to see a compilation of the baptism records for the children of Dirk and Sara, to see how the children's first names correspond with Dutch naming conventions and to see if Zara's parents and siblings appear as witnesses for the baptisms of Dirk and Sara's children (as well as whose children Dirk and Sara served as witnesses for).

Answer 1

P.S.  I've found several other Zara Van Wagenens in this age range, but they all have known husbands.  The Zara Van Wagenen born in 1730 is the only who lacks a husband.

Comments

That is a hint that she is probably the right Zara, but only if there is solid sourcing and analysis supporting the connections of the other Zaras to their purported husbands. The analysis of the names of parents and baptismal witnesses is often a very powerful tool for sorting out cousins with the same name. It may not require examination of every single record -- a couple's first children are typically named for grandparents and the namesake grandparent and spouse are likely to be the baptismal witnesses. When baptism records line up neatly with the parents of someone who we think is one of the child's parents, it's often convincing evidence.

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Although Dirck Hoornbeck had at least three children by his first wife, I have been unable to find any children with his second wife Sara.  There are a number of records of them together as witnesses to the baptisms of relatives, no evidence that Dirck and Sara had children.  So when I have time, I guess I will have to try your suggestion of solid sourcing and analysis of the other Saras and Zaras to their purported husbands.  The marriage record of Dirck and Sara says he was a widower, but calls her "Sara Van Wagenen Y.D.", so that seems to eliminate the possibility that Sara was a widow.  But I am not sure how much the Y.D. would restrict her age range: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6961/images/42037_2421401574_0609-00135?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&_ga=2.206776915.1181755880.1644630259-1244454680.1636240753&pId=2244198 

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Regarding records: Thanks for looking for baptisms. Don't restrict the search to baptisms for children of Dirck and Sara. His profile says "Dirck and Sara appear as sponsors for numerous baptisms in Rochester as late as 1778" -- see where they appear together as witnesses. They may have witnessed baptisms for her siblings' children.

Regarding age: Although "j. d." stands for jonge dochter and it is often literally translated as "young daughter" the Dutch term is better understood as "maiden," meaning that she was not previously married. (I've also seen it rendered as "spinster.")

Sara/Zara born 1730 was a bit old to be marrying for the first time in 1758, but not every woman married young, and it makes sense that a 38-year-old widower would not marry an 18-year-old as his second wife. Several of my New-Netherland-Descendant ancestors, both female and male, were relatively old at their first marriages. I suspect that some of them had been unable to marry earlier, because of being the "child on duty" who was expected to run their aging parent's household or farm.

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Van Wagenen, Gerrit H. "Early Settlers of Ulster Co., N. Y. -- The Van Wagenen Family." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 21 (1890), page 122. https://www.newyorkfamilyhistory.org/online-records/nygb-record/104/28

"SARA, bp. Jan. 4, 1730 ; sponsors, Gysbert Van den Berg and Diewertje Masten ; married at Rochester, Ulster Co., N. Y., Oct. 10, 1758, Deyrk Hoornbeek, of Rochester."

Not a contemporary source, but I think we can be rather sure that this author plowed through all of the church records.

We can use this as a basis for merging the profiles.

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Excellent.  I have proposed the merge.  Thanks for all the help.