Help with multiple people with the same name.

Question

Hi there, one of my biggest challenges has been trying to identify my great-grandfather, Arthur Hicks' father. I now believe his father was a Moses Hicks born in Canada in 1847. I have a number of sources attached on my familysearch profile for him (https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/GX6R-WVN). He was married to one wife in Canada and then another wife in Michigan not too long after. There is also apparently a death record attached to him on an ancestry.com member's profile that would have him dying before the birth of Arthur. I figured maybe it was two separate Moseses however I can only find the one Moses Hicks born in Canada in the birth year range that would make sense. Would it make sense to have two wives so close to one another? If anyone has any advice on how to go about figuring out if this is one person or two I would greatly appreciate it!

Answer 1

Hi there,

They way I would approach this is to create a biography with a timeline and look carefully at all of the details in each source to see what matches and what doesn't. You can do this in the biography or as notes in the research notes section. Creating a list of the children and finding sources for them will also help.

Then research the women he married. Did the first one die shortly after they married?

Hope that helps.

Comments

Also, for Canadian research, don't rely solely on FamilySearch. Library and Archives Canada has resources for genealogy including census records. These can contain information not available through FamilySearch.

Edited for typo

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I was not aware of that other source! Thank you very much!

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LAC can be a bit tricky to use at first. If you decide to search there, don't hesitate to drop me a note if you have any questions.

Answer 2

Hello.  The 1880 Census linked in Arthur's profile shows his father's birth place as California, according to the transcription on Family Search. I am curious what lead you to Canada as a possibility?

Comments

Yes, it does put it as that and it threw me off at first. They put it as CA on that record but all other ones spell out Canada. I think it was just confusion on the shorthand for whoever indexed it.

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That does happen pretty frequently. For example in other pre-1900 censuses when Indiana natives list their birthplace it will be indexed as Iowa. You have to keep in mind state abbreviations did not become standard until 1963, so you might see some variations on what we see from day to day. Their computers aren't smart enough to know.

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Many US census enumerators abbreviated Canada as CA. This is very common.

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Ah, thanks - it confused me when a few lines up from your ancestor, the census taker writes out Canada twice but then goes to CA down the list. 

You could also try the Ontario Archives http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/ 

(even though 1847 is before the designation of Ontario and Canada for that matter).  If you have any clues as to the County, township or town they potentially lived in, there maybe records on the county archives as well.  There are also various local resources that may be helpful once you are closer to knowing where they were located.  

There is also this Historical County Maps, which may help, particularly if he owned land.    https://utoronto.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8cc6be34f6b54992b27da17467492d2f

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OK, I tried to edit my comment and it didn't take...I noticed that in the census on the Moses Hicks pages linked to Arthur's page that the county is Norfolk, which you can find on the map link - it's on Lake Erie and Townsend township is in the top right corner of Norfolk county.  (There are names on the map, which may be useful).  I also have a link to the Norfolk Archives - they may not have anything directly about your ancestor, but maybe you can get some clues:  https://www.nca-ebdm.ca/research/archival-collection/

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Thank you so much for your help! I will check this out!

Answer 3

Can anyone find an obituary for either Arthur or Ida in 1923 in North Dakota?

Comments

I have their death records on ancestry! One of my relatives posted pictures of them, not quite sure how to transfer that here... link his ancestry profile I suppose?

https://www.ancestry.ca/family-tree/person/tree/71569910/person/222224244067/facts

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Awesome! 

I was looking for extended family who would be listed in an obituary.

I didn't see the death record for Arthur on your tree.

In the 1880 Census, when Arthur is one, he has an older brother Willie (William) who is 10. I would like to prove that Willie is the same William who is the son of Moses Hicks and Eliza Reece, born in Norfolk County. This will add support to proving Moses is the son of Stephen Hicks and Catherine Vansickle.