How many
times have you seen on some one's family tree where a child was born when the
mother was five years old or younger? Or maybe a man fathered a child when he
was over 100 years old. Ok, Ok, maybe
these are extremes, but you get the idea. If something doesn't look right, it
probably isn't right.
If a man
seems to be chasing himself - living first in one place and then in another and
then back to the first place - maybe you are chasing two different men with the
same name. That happened with my ancestor, John E. Wilson, who lived in Livingston County, Kentucky until 1842. After 1842, he was found in Crittenden County. A man by that same
name, including the middle initial, was a merchant in Livingston County at the
same time. Both had wives named Nancy. Were
they one and the same or two different men? By comparing deeds and other records for the two men, it was determined that my ancestor was the man living on Crooked Creek in what became Crittenden County. He was buried in Crooked Creek Cemetery, Crittenden County. The other man of that name lived in Smithland in Livingston County and had to be the man buried in Smithland Cemetery. It may take a little time to separate the records for the two men, but it works.
If names,
dates and events seem beyond the realm of possibility, don't be afraid to
question the sources and, by all means, don't accept it just because someone
else says it is so, especially if you are depending on those online family trees.
