Nancy (Newman) Rampley and Her First Cousin Nancy (Newman) Rampley

Some will bemoan the fact that people don’t cite their sources, research too quickly, and give nary a thought as to accurate and sound methodology. I understand that, but I also understand that many people just don’t want to read lengthy diatribes of that nature.

I am a firm believer in all that I and I don’t want to read those diatribes either.

Examples make it easier to see why one has to be careful when researching.

  • Hancock County, Illinois brothers Riley Rampley (1835-1893) and James Rampley (1844-1913) married first cousins who were both named Nancy Newman. 
  • Scott County, Iowa, first cousins George A. Freund (1858-1928) and George K. Freund (1854-1941) married women named Katharine Cawiezell and Catherine Schilling, respectively. Can you imagine how easy it is to get those two couples confused? After all, they were both George and “Catherine” Freund….and we know that first names can be spelled incorrectly.
I have more, but this makes the point.
And the confusion is even worse in frontier families where there are fewer records. The two examples shown above, while confusing, are relatively easy to sort out–if one takes the time to be concerned about that. 
And doesn’t their information deserve to be recorded accurately? From what I know, Nancy (Newman) Rampley and Nancy (Newman) Rampley were confused with each other enough when they were alive–enough so that one spelled her name Nancie. Now that they’re dead, we owe it to them to record them correctly. 
Nancy, with the “y” at the end, is my great-great-grandmother.