Ancestry Magazine

Confusion is almost guaranteed when a family insists upon using the same first name in multiple generations. Let’s say a man named John has six sons, including one named John. All of the sons, in turn, have a son named John. The result is six first cousins, a grandfather, and a father all with the same name. There needs to be a way to tell them apart.

If you are fortunate, the eight men have different middle names. John Henry and John Thomas are easy to differentiate. Research becomes trickier when there are middle names in common, middle initials that are the same, or when records don’t include a middle name or initial.

How do you get over the same-name hurdle? Start with age. The first appearance on a tax list or a voter list can be an excellent clue to age. If a man appears on a voter list for the first time in 1855, his birth date could be no more recent than 1834 (voting at the age of 21). If the man you are researching was born in 1838, he is not the same man who voted in 1855.

Spouses can also be a differentiating factor. Which John is selling land? Read the entire deed and examine the release of dower for the wife’s name. Which John was married to Catherine? Which one to Susannah?

Some people don’t use the first name given to them at birth. Recently, I found a family in the 1880 census who had named the two youngest sons (twins) “Lester S.” and “Sylvester S.” I could not find anything further for Lester. Sylvester’s obituary named among the survivors his brother Stanley, a name I had not previously encountered. Could it be a new sibling? Before adding it to the family group sheet, I gathered more records. According to a published cemetery reading, Sylvester’s tombstone reads “Stanton S.” rather than “Sylvester S.” Buried in the next row was “Stanley L.”—who happened to have the exact same birthday as Sylvester/Stanton.

Suddenly it made sense. There wasn’t an additional brother named Stanley. Rather than go through life with the rhyming names of Lester and Sylvester, the twin brothers used their middle names, Stanley and Stanton. (Let’s hope that they didn’t both go by the nickname of “Stan.”)

Just like the nursery rhyme says, names can never hurt us. But names can trip up even the most prepared family historian, hurling sticks and stones at well-intended research. Look beyond just the given name and consider other identifiers such as middle name, age, or a spouse’s name. And keep your efforts focused on the right person.

Amy Johnson Crow, CG, is an author, editor, and lecturer, the creator of DeafBiograhies.com, and co-author of Online Roots. She can be reached at amy@amyjohnsoncrow.com.