This week’s #52Ancestors prompt is ‘Name’s the Same’. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, then you are aware that my research involves a lot of James Crawfords, with most of them being unrelated.
It is a challenge to separate records for people of the same name living in the same community at the same time. That is the issue that has plagued my Crawford research. I have at least two and often more James Crawford families in the same area at the same time. (See: Untangling James Crawfords)
Like my Crawford research, I’ve had to be careful when researching several other families because there’s another family of the same name.
My William Thompson research is one area where I’ve encountered this. In Wapello county, Iowa, there are several William Thompsons in the early census records. My ancestor, William T. Thompson (1820-1898) is buried in the Ottumwa cemetery in Ottumwa, Iowa. Also buried in that cemetery is another William Thompson (1813-1892). This William Thompson was born in Ireland while my ancestor was born in Kentucky.
My Currey / Curry research is another area where I’ve struggled with same name issues. My great grandfather, Hiram M. Currey (1866-1945) was the son of Hiram M. Currey (1835-1901) who I believe was the son of Hiram M. Currey (1787-?) of Peoria, Illinois who may be the son of Hiram Mirick Currey of Ohio fame. Not only am I struggling with 4 generations of men of the same name, but the name Hiram seems to be a name commonly found among descendants of Thomas Currey of Adams county, Ohio.
One of those descendants, Hiram Meyrick Currey (1827-1898), son of William C. Currey and Hannah Adkins, is often confused in family trees with the Hiram Currey of Peoria, Illinois. Although there are not many records for the Hiram Currey of Peoria, there are records identifying his occupation as a lawyer. This piece of information helps separate the two men since Hiram Meyrick Currey (1827-1898) was a doctor. Additional research is needed, but these two men are likely first cousins.
All of this experience with ‘same name’ issues has taught me to question whether I could be encountering that complication when researching a family in a new area. My efforts to locate as many records as possible and to build out the family is what has helped me to separate these families. Keeping the families straight is why I often maintain information about the other family in my genealogy file.