michaeljohnneill 8:10 am on May 19, 2016

Repeated Names are Clues, Not “Proof”

I’m working on a man named Andrew Trask who had a sons Edward and George and a daughter Harriet. There is a man named George living near where he did in the 1840s who can’t be his father, but that George had a daughter Harriet. That George had a brother Edward and a sister Harriet. There’s enough name “connection” to make me think that my Andrew probably has a connection to this family, but that name connection is not proof.

Just a clue that I need to follow.

E A 2:56 pm on May 19, 2016

This can happen frequently in families with Scottish roots. Naming the children usuall y followed the tradition of naming the first boy after the father’s father, the first girl after the mother’s mother etc. It helps to define the grandparents if the surname is a common one in the area.
- Kathleen Wells 1:28 pm on May 20, 2016
  
  I have a Miles Formby, 1908- 1938 , son of Miles Formby…….there is also (in the same area) a Miles Formby 1906-? a son of a different Miles Formby!!!! (Formby, Lancashire/ Merseyside, England!)
Dee Edson 7:35 pm on May 20, 2016

I ran into the same thing with my g-g-grandmother’s family–also with the name Harriet, oddly enough! She had a sister, a stepsister, two cousins, an aunt, and a close friend all named Harriet. Whew!

Genealogy Tip of the Day

with Michael John Neill

Repeated Names are Clues, Not “Proof”