After my experience with my James Crawford line, I’m a little hesitant to conclude that two people of the same name are the same person. Proving that I was looking at multiple James Crawford families in Kentucky was relatively easy — most had wills and my ancestor wasn’t in them. Unfortunately, the same is not true for my Hiram Currey line. Not only are there several Hiram Currey’s of the same appropriate age but the name, Hiram, was used across multiple generations.

According to the family bible, my ancestor, Hiram M. Currey was born in Peoria, Illinois in 1835. In the 1840 U.S. Census, there is a Hiram Currey with a male child under 5 (indexed as Hiram Caisy on Ancestry)

The Hiram Currey of Peoria Illinois was fairly active politically between 1825 and 1840. (from my Master Genealogy file)

This Hiram Currey seems to disappear around 1850. Locating his wife and children in the 1850 census has also been a challenge. So when I find that other researchers have him dying in Miami County, Ohio in 1874, I have to wonder if it is indeed the same person OR if they are two separate individuals. The Hiram Currey who died in 1874 in Ohio is probably the Hiram Currey listed in the 1870 Census for Champaign County, Ohio.

Even though this 1870 census is for someone of the same name, the name is the only commonality between the family in Ohio in 1870 and the family in Peoria, Illinois prior to 1850. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to locate the Ohio family in the 1860 U.S. Census or this Hiram Currey in the 1850 U.S. Census.

The age of the Ohio Hiram Currey also bothers me. At age 52, this Hiram Currey seems like he would have been too young to be commissioned as justice of the peace in 1827.

Until I have more proof that these are the same men, I’m going to stick with my original conclusion that they are two separate families and that the Hiram Currey of Peoria (my potential ancestor) disappeared before the 1850 census.

 

Sources:

Ancestry.com. 1840 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Sixth Census of the United States, 1840. (NARA microfilm publication M704, 580 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.