When an index or manual searching takes you to an ancestral entry in a census, tax or other list entry take times to look at the neighboring names. Are the names in rough alphabetical order? If so neighborhood clues can’t be inferred from the proximity of names. That is unless all the “B” surnames lived in the same part of the county.
If certain details of your ancestor’s wife change, but the first name remains unchanged, have you considered that he had two wives with the same first name? Maybe Thomas married Mary One and after her death married Mary Two.
Get the Genealogy Tip of the Day Book
Archives