My daughter’s dog is named Riley. My great-great-grandfather is as well. Just because the name is the same does not mean they are identical. While there are many things that can be used to distinguish one person from another, key elements are:

  • age
  • place of birth
  • occupation
  • social class
  • spouse
  • children
  • residence
  • etc.

Try and glean all the clues from each record to see what elements about this record suggest other identifying pieces of information about the people it mentions.

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2 Responses

  1. I finally separated my ggfather from his identically-named cousin by looking at their heights on their military records!

  2. I know, I had information in front of me but it took many years 4 that info. to process in my brain. I was looking at my great grandmothers name not grandmother name. After I started working on families histories did it Make sense. Also so appreciate your helpful information. Without it I think I would still be lost..

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