I wanted to share a story

Question

Sometimes genealogy work can be very frustrating. The clues are tantalizing but not definitive. It's often difficult to know for certain that you have your information right.

I've been working on a family (Jackson) in Arkansas, and I had two daughters born just two years apart. The older girl was named Fannie, and the younger girl was named Frances.

I searched in vain for any evidence of when Fannie died. I knew both Frances' birth and death dates and locations.

The odd thing was, ALL of Fannie's sources were dated early (up to 1906), and ALL of Frances' sources were dated late (beginning in 1905.)

I had one clue that they might be the same person. In their father's will all the living children were mentioned except Fannie appeared with her married name, Donaldson. But Frances was married to a Donaldson.

Did the sisters marry brothers? Or were Fannie and Frances one and the same person?

I finally put two and two together when I found two newspaper articles. Miss Fannie Jackson of Paragould (24 Jun 1905) will leave for Europe, where she will spend a year. And Paragould - Returns from Europe  (20 Dec 1905) Miss Frances M. Jackson....has returned from a six month tour of foreign countries.....

It's rare that you find such definitive evidence, but it sure is satisfying.

And that is why I keep researching even after I think I have figured it out.

Answer 1

It can be a head banger, I have 2, 2 x great aunts, Sarah Jane Richards 1836-1902 and her sister Sarah Richards 1838-1893, for years my family history group thought they were the same person with perhaps a first and second husband with marriages 2 years apart.

Eventually a cousin found what seemed to be a good DNA match in Australia.

Sarah Jane emigrated to Australia and her grt granddaughter was the match, my cousin actually managed to speak to the grt granddaughter, who confirmed the relationship, but no one has any idea why the parents named 2 daughters Sarah as a first name.

We assume one was called Sarah and the other Jane but it's only a guess.

Comments

I have seen instances where a child was named identically to another child. The first child died before the second was born. It is unusual, but not unheard of. It's why you have to pay close attention to your sources to make sure you aren't conflating two completely separate individuals.

---

Naming a second child or even sometimes a third child after deceased older children is quite common in England and Scotland in the 1700 and 1800s, I don't know about other places.

And yes you do need to pay attention as it can create many problems.

---

It is fairly common in Ireland also

Answer 2

I have two marriages a few years apart.

Sarah Pegg marrying John Tibbetts.

On the face of it looks it as if they are the same people BUT:

The second marriage is the son and daughter of the above who happen to have the same names.

I have tried to explain on the Research Notes, so I hope others are not so confused.

Answer 3

Great story!  Thanks for sharing!

I have one:  My 2nd great grand mother had all her kids near Des Moines, Iowa, from 1838 to 1859...except 1...he was born near Indianapolis, IN  It was the 6th child.  I thought the records were wrong, but Family Search and the Family history papers writen by my great aunt agreed!  

So what the heck is going on?  Who travels 500 miles in the 1850's to go have a kid in Indiana, dragging little ones along?  Well, she probably left little kids with her sister!  OK, one explanation maybe solved.  Why did she go to Indiana, pregnant.  She may not have known she was pregnant!  OK second mystery may be solved.  So Why did she go to Indiana?   The only thing I can discover is the death dates of her siblings are close, especially 1.  I think she went back to visit her sister in laws!  She must have been very fond of them.   Still this is all speculation!

Comments

Sometimes that's all we can do is speculate. Have you looked for newspaper articles? You'd be amazed how many times you can find articles in local newspapers that are only one or two sentences: E.g. So and so visited her family in Indiana due to the death of her sister.

If you don't have a subscription to newspapers.com, I highly recommend it.

Answer 4

I have just had my first negative experience with FindAGrave after years of membership and hundreds of suggested changes submitted.

I was updating the unfortunate profile of my granduncle Gustaf Walfrid "Gus" Anderson (1886 - 1925), a farm worker who succumbed to the fashionable mental disease general paresis (paralysis) of the insane (GPI) and was incarcerated in the Northern State Hospital, Sedro Wooley, Skagit, Washington where he died after about 19 months.

Please keep in mind that spelling of names was not a particular strong point among farmers a century ago.  The FG site had Gus Wolford Anderson, and I suggested it be Gustaf Walfred (the way it was spelled everywhere but the birth certificate) Anderson with "Gus" being the nickname.  The FG information had mostly come from a rushed hand-written Death Certificate issued by the institution.  I received an email that my suggestion had been accepted followed by one that said it was rejected.  Because of the paucity of space to support my suggestions, I could only add one link at a time, and what followed was a classic missed communication over 6 or 8 official rejections of each subtle correction I was trying to make.  I finally made the "Gustaf" given name,"Gus" nickname again just so I could politely wonder if we could communicate some other way (email?) to resolve this.  By that time I had submitted five original docs to support my case that this was MY Gus Anderson, who had a father named XY born in Sweden and a mother named "XX" born in Norway who met in 1872 in Brainerd, Crow Wing County, MN.  

Well, that seemed to do it. An email referred me to a comms section within FG (I'm thankful to know about this) with the ability to reply shut off that basically said the person knew what they were doing with many decades of genealogy, and the profile had been flicked to FG supervision.

So I posted my five original docs on Gus's FG profile.  I feel bad about it, but I'll try to have him connected to his family again in a few months.  I don't bear the "expert" any ill will: in fact, the exercise prompted me to research Gus much deeper and I am better for it.

What I think prompted the misunderstanding were two errors on the Sedro Wooley Death Certificate, his DoB (month and day) and the spelling(s) of his name.  The expert was relying on it as "gospel" and wouldn't budge.  Having been in the computerized military and the son of Public Servants, you will never convince me that bureaucrats (especially ones as run off their feet as at a mental hospital) never make a mistake on rushed forms.

Sometimes, all's well that doesn't end well - yet.

Comments

I have gotten pushback on Findagrave as well. What irks me the most is when someone says your suggestion was rejected, please send sources, and then they do not allow contact with them.

How in the world am I supposed to send you sources when you don't accept messages? Wave a want? Pray? It's stupid. And it irritates me to no end.

Since he's your blood relative, you could have the memorial transferred to your management. That would solve the issue.

And your point about document accuracy? Don't even get me started.