One of the biggest challenges in genealogy is sorting out individuals with the same name. We all encounter this situation at some point in our research and if you haven’t yet, you aren’t looking closely enough!
In this Learn With Me! series blog post, you’ll discover what it takes to successfully distinguish your person from all the others with the same name. It takes time, patience, and some strategies, but it’s definitely doable!
In a sea of men named “John Smith,” wouldn’t it be nice if you could just ask politely, “Which one is my guy?” and he would raise his hand and say, “Here I am!” Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. We have to do some work.
Genealogy is always out to solve one of three situations: identity, relationship, or ancestor actions. Sorting individuals of the same name is trying to find an identity. And to do that we need to figure out who we are trying to find and what makes them unique.
Where to start?
In genealogy, you ALWAYS start with a research question, and then work backward from what you know. To help get you started on this concept, check out my blog post, Where To Start In Your Genealogy Research.
Because the Learn With Me! series includes an example from my genealogy research, let’s begin with a research question. Who is the father of Susanna Krewson, who married Andrew Bothel on 26 August 1847 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania?
This topic comes from a paper I wrote for ProGen, a study group based on the book Professional Genealogy, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. In this paper, I knew the father was John Krewson, but I had to prove which John Krewson was my guy (there were two.)
This paper was published by the Bucks County Genealogical Society in March 2023. You can read it in its entirety here.
Tip: Don’t ever assume that just because your ancestor has an unusual name, they are the only one with that name.
How to proceed
Write down everything you know about YOUR person
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Where do they live – did they move regularly or did they stay put?
- What is their age – approximate if you don’t know.
- Who did they marry?
- What was their occupation?
- Do they own land?
- What religion do they practice?
- What type of lifestyle do they lead – are they rich or poor?
Write down everything you know about your ancestor that makes them a unique individual.
Compare locations and dates
Geography is a powerful tool. Check where each individual lived. People often stayed within a certain area, especially before the 20th century. Look at property records, city directories, or church registers. If one John Smith appears in the same county over decades, while another moves frequently, it’s easier to keep their records separate.
Birth, marriage, and death dates help narrow down individuals. Sometimes the same name will span two generations, like a father and son. If you’re unsure which records match, check if the dates make sense. For example, a man born in 1820 likely wouldn’t father children in the 1900s.
Tip: When looking at generations and the suffix Sr. or Jr. (senior or junior) pops up, don’t assume it means father and son. The older man with that name is senior and the younger, junior. If the elder man dies or moves away the junior would become the senior. There may or may not be a relationship between these individuals.
Gather Records and Make a Timeline
Gather as many records as you can find with the individual’s name on it. Don’t overlook any record group. Have you found census, vital records, deeds, probate, land, tax, and church records? These will all be important in the sorting process and one may be the golden nugget you need.
If you’ve never made a timeline for an ancestor, you’re about to find out how powerful they can be. Check out my blog post, The Value of Using Timelines in Your Genealogy Research.
Put all the information you’ve gathered in chronological order. You may start to realize how many people you need to separate. Are you dealing with just one person, two people, or more? Make any notes that will help you see this information more clearly.
The FAN Club
Knowing the social context of their lives including their siblings, neighbors, spouses, and associates (the FAN club) goes a long way in helping you know when you’ve found the answer. Have you researched brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, in-laws, and neighbors?
People didn’t live in a vacuum. They lived near and dealt with many of the same people. Sometimes pausing the research on your same-name person and concentrating on someone else who may have a less-than-common name is helpful.
Signatures
Sometimes we find digitized documents online that have our ancestors’ signatures and then other times we must travel to their homeland to see them (and who doesn’t want to do that?!)
Comparing signatures is a great way to know if you have more than one person. If your ancestor was illiterate and signed documents with an “X” – well, you’re out of luck.
A Case Study
Again, my research question is Who is the father of Susanna Krewson, who married Andrew Bothel on 26 August 1847 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania?
The marriage record gives me Susanna’s father’s name as John Krewson: “At Newtown, on Thursday evening the 26th of August 1847, Andrew Bothel to Susanna Krewsen, daughter of Mr. John Krewsen, and all of Newtown Bucks Co. Pa. …”
So, her father is John Krewson. Case closed. Nope! There were two John Krewsons in Newtown at that time who could have been Susanna’s father. Let’s take a look at how I figured out which was the correct man.
Records
Census Records
One of the first record groups I turned to was census records. The census closest to Susanna’s marriage was in 1850. Two John Krewsons lived in Newtown, Bucks, Pennsylvania at that time, one was a carpenter and the other a mason. The name Krewson has many (many!) spellings so don’t let the obvious spelling difference mess you up.
Because the 1850 census did not list relationships, this is indirect evidence of the connection between John Krewson to the members of his household. Outside of the occupation, the other differences are age and presumed wife and family.
Tax Records
I turned next to tax records. While I don’t have a table to show this, in the ten years surrounding Susanna’s marriage date (1842-1851), two John Krewsons paid taxes on a house and land consistently. Thankfully, the clerk recorded the occupation of each man (carpenter and mason) which helped me to keep them straight and to know what they owned.
I looked in the 1860 census next to see if anything had changed. Yes, it had.
John the carpenter was still living in Newtown, but John, the mason, had moved to Upper Makefield Township in Bucks County and was now a farmer. The makeup of the family helped to identify him as the same man.
Land Records
Since both men owned property, I looked at all the land records I could find. I found John Krewson who moved in both land records and tax records to help me pinpoint the approximate date he left Newtown.
Probate Records
Next, I looked at probate records. John Krewson who moved to Upper Makefield died in 1879. He left a will that mentions his wife, Sarah, and daughters Anna M. [Anna Margaret], Sarah [Sarah Jane], and Martha. This correlates nicely with the other records found that included family members.
John Krewson who stayed in Newtown wrote a will and died in 1866. In it, he mentions his five children including Susanna Bothel, my 2x great-grandmother who’s marriage record we started with.
Conclusion
Through tax, land, census, and probate records, it is clear John Krewson, carpenter, and John Krewson, mason (and farmer) were two distinctly different men with different families. John Krewson, carpenter is correctly identified as the man mentioned in Susanna’s marriage record as her father.
Keep in mind that you may go back and forth between record sets as you uncover more clues.
Review of Common Mistakes
Here are some common mistakes to look out for:
Assuming Relationships Without Evidence
Many genealogists assume that two people with the same name in the same area must be related, often as father and son, without proof.
Overlooking Middle Names or Initials
Ignoring middle names or initials in records can lead to merging individuals who are separate people. If one of your choices consistently uses an initial, use that as a clue for that person’s identity.
Failing to Document Sources
Without proper citations, it becomes difficult to revisit records and verify assumptions, leading to potential errors. If you haven’t started keeping some kind of research log, now’s the time to start!
Neglecting Context
Genealogists sometimes ignore important clues, like neighbors, witnesses, or occupations, which can help differentiate individuals.
Mixing Generations
It’s easy to confuse individuals of different generations, like a father and son, especially if they share a common name and lived in the same area. Many cultures used the same names throughout, so you may have brothers John and Garrett each naming their sons John and Garrett.
Skipping Timelines
Without organizing records into a timeline, it’s harder to spot inconsistencies in dates and events, leading to errors.
Over-relying on Single or Derivative Records
Placing too much weight on one record without looking at other evidence can lead to errors in identifying individuals. Also, don’t perpetuate errors by only looking at the work of others. Find original records and do your own research.
Disregarding Geographic Boundaries
Forgetting that people with the same name might live in adjacent towns or counties can lead to mixing their records.
Finally
By using these strategies you’ll be able to separate individuals of the same name in your family tree. Knowing that locations, dates, etc. help to identify a person uniquely is how you become confident that you are climbing your family tree and not someone else’s.
Genealogy tip: Genealogy software, like Legacy Family Tree, can look at the timelines of two individuals side by side making it easier to see discrepancies or similarities. If you haven’t invested in offline software yet, this may be a perfect time to do so.
Helping people sort out their family tree is what I do. If you’ve hit a roadblock and need some help getting past it, click below and we can talk about it. It’s a free call.
