In many record sets an ancestor’s name should appear only once, but there are exceptions.
People get “double counted” in census records regularly–sometimes because they moved and other times because they had two residences.
In some cases amended birth or death certificates may be filed. This is sometimes done with birth certificates for adoptions and with death certificates if the cause of death needs to be changed.
People can easily be listed on property tax rolls in more than one location if they own property in more than one location.
And individuals (or even couples) can appear as a bride or groom on more than one marriage record.
4 Responses
Oh, boy! This is so rich on! I was a census taker for 2010 (you know, THE census when so many nut jobs feared the government was going to use to take their rights away, so they made us play guessing games on how many people were in the house, who they were, and what their ages were….but I digress). One man I spoke to included his daughter’s new husband, cuz they were both living there. But then he said “Well, they live here half the time. The other half they live….”(and now I can’t remember) but this shows how that daughter and her husband will most likely be counted twice.
(sorry about the typos. My phone autocorrects when it shouldn’t. That should be “right on” up there)
My maternal grandmother was counted twice in the 1910 US Census. She was with her mother & father on one sheet and her grandmother on another a day later. She often stayed with her grandmother to help her with aging issues. The crazy part was they lived only two doors away!
I found my great uncle Charles, living in two locations with different family members, in Jersey City in 1915 New Jersey census…