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05 February 2015

The Possibility of Two

Don't conclude that two individuals with the same or similar names are the same person--even if some of the details match. There were two Ira Sargents living in Iowa in the latter half of the 19th century. Both were born in Canada in the 1840s with a father who was born in New England and spent some time in New York.

Turns out that they were two completely different people and so distantly related that it did not matter.

Complicating the matter further is that there was another Canadian born Ira Sargent who lived a few counties into Illinois. Again---unrelated.

Open yourself up to the possibility that there were two men with very similar names and similar origins who migrated to the same place--and not just one man showing up in multiple records.

1 comment:

  1. Or two people with the same name from the same country with the same birth date.

    ReplyDelete