Early in my research I located a divorce record for my ancestor. I assumed it was the only one and I never bothered to search court records for a longer period. That was a mistake. There were two divorces–both from the same man.
My aunt’s separation and eventual divorce from her husband in Illinois in the 1918-1922 era resulted in three separate court cases: a separate maintenance suit, a partition, and an eventual divorce. I learned a long time ago to always search for more reference to an ancestor in most sets of records.
Your ancestor may have purchased and sold a piece of property that no one later in the family was ever aware of (that’s how I discovered my relative owned a mill for about five years). Your ancestor may have married more than once or had a marriage that no one later ever mentioned. Some individuals have amended birth certificates if there was a significant error or omission on the original. i even have one ancestor who had two estate settlements filed for him–one in Ohio where he died in 1823 and owned property and another in Maryland several years later when a lawsuit was eventually settled.
Sometimes having “more than one” is common and sometimes it is not. Just be on the look out for it.
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