There’s a World War II draft card for a man named James Rampley Seibert born in Illinois in 1906. James Rampley is a name that appears numerous times in my family starting in Maryland in the late 1700s and continuing onward for nearly 150 years. In fact one known descendant of the first James Rampley in the United States is named James Rampley Elliott–after one of those James Rampleys.

That does not mean that this James Rampley Seibert got his name in the same way. There may have been no connection between his first name of James and his middle name of Rampley. His middle name may have come from no familial connection to the Rampley family at all–the name could have been taken from a friend of the family, a neighbor, etc.

It can be easy to get taken in by an initial assumption and let your research take an exit ramp in the wrong direction. Try and avoid getting too caught up in a quick, hastily reached conclusion.

That can be even more tempting to do when the last name is one that is unusual. That unusual last name as a middle name does not necessarily mean there’s a connection.

It just means you have to ramp up your research and do some work.

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