Mike came up with another good example of the situation where a John married an Elizabeth - but were there one or two (or even more) families? This is a common problem, particularly in the 18th century when there is no census to help, and beginners often assume that the first "matching" couple they find must be the right one and end up on a wild goose chase after someone else's ancestors. Click here to see how I was able to show Mike that there were two different families or read Right Name, Wrong Body to see other examples where our ancestors seem to have been trying to confuse us!
Monday, July 27, 2015
Right name - but are you sure he is really your ancestor?
Mike came up with another good example of the situation where a John married an Elizabeth - but were there one or two (or even more) families? This is a common problem, particularly in the 18th century when there is no census to help, and beginners often assume that the first "matching" couple they find must be the right one and end up on a wild goose chase after someone else's ancestors. Click here to see how I was able to show Mike that there were two different families or read Right Name, Wrong Body to see other examples where our ancestors seem to have been trying to confuse us!
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