Posts in May 5, 2020

When looking for siblings of an adult ancestor, it’s easy to focus on individuals living near the person that have the same last name. They are obvious candidates as siblings of the ancestor of interest. But that person with a different last name who appears on several documents with your ancestor and appears to be hanging out near the ancestor in Amherst County Virginia, and then in Bourbon County, Kentucky? Could he be a brother-in-law of your ancestor-married to the ancestor’s sister? Sometimes those neighbors with different last names are just as related as those with the same last name. And there’s no guarantee those with the same name are related just because they have the same last name either.