When relatives have the same first and last name it is easy to get them confused. It is even worse when the name gets spelled or written in various ways.
In a recent blog post, I referred to Anne and Annie Murphy--sisters-in-law. To make matters worse, Anne signed her name as "Ann" in a document and I transcribed the document exactly as it was written.
To clarify in my discussion what I should have done was either used their maiden name Annie (Murphy) Neill and Anne (Brice) Neill or their husband's name, Annie Neill (wife of Samuel) or Anne Neill (wife of Joseph) to distinguish them.
It may sound a little stilted, but clarification never hurts.
The following are all from Pennsylvania & related:
ReplyDeleteClarence O'Conner Miller 1897 - ?
Clarence O"Conner Miller 1918 - 1972
Clarence O'Conner Miller 1941 - living
The Clarence O'Conner Miller b. 1897 d. ? is the one that is a brick wall for us. How do I find out his date of death, where he was living his last years? He was definately from Pennsylvania, & lived in the Harrisburg area for a while.
I agree. It'll save the next generations of descendants the grief of mixing everybody up all over again.
ReplyDeleteMy Irish roots have a lot of Ann's....becomes a real pain when researching. My other stickler is the family name of NEE. Which is used when talking about maiden names. Thanks for the excellent Genealogy tip of the day!
ReplyDelete