More very boring genealogy stuff
Apr. 29th, 2012 04:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chocolatepotBut I'm hoping that writing things out will make them clearer to me, because it seems like other people's trees are crossing oddly. Okay, so. In the 1850 census, a James Wells (of PA) is listed as being born in 1786, in New York. He is definitely the father of the person I was following back. I take the indication of being born in New York seriously, since if someone were going to screw up (as census takers are wont to do) they would likely screw up the other way, putting them as being born in the same state they're living in. I can find a James D Wells from Cambridge, NY, born in either 1787 or 1791, from an army enlistment thing - other people are citing the same page as evidence of his birth in Minisink, Orange County, and this is why I am so confusing and untrusting when other trees have a completely different James Wells Jr, whom they list as being born in Pennsylvania. However, a record on Findagrave agrees that it's James Wells Jr married to Polly (although there's no photo of the gravestone, so it's anyone's guess how much of the information there is based on the stone and how much is just other people's genealogical research). But his gravestone death date is 1861 and yet he doesn't seem to show up on the 1860 census.
ETA: I should note that it just occurred to me to look at Polly's gravestone, and hers has much less information, making me think JWJr's is filled in with research. I'm going to have to go out there someday and see for myself.
The trouble is, it would be cool to have an ancestor from Cambridge because it's so close to here, and I can't tell if my logic is being damaged by that. To break it down:
In favor of James D Wells:
- evidence of birth in New York state
- birth more closely matches census
Against:
- nothing specifically lists James D after the army papers
In favor of James Wells Jr:
- name on the gravestone
- name on nearly all other trees
Against:
- conflicting birthplaces given
- some trees show his father remarrying and having a kid at 68, while others have completely different dates for his second wife's birth and the birth of their children (and the numbers and names of their children), so clearly something is fucked
- his wife's gravestone shows a birthdate about 9 years off from the census
Obviously it isn't necessarily true that these are two different people, because he could just be James D Wells Jr. But the different birthplaces and dates and parents make it seem likely to me that these are two completely different people. Two different people who each married women named Polly.
I think what makes this so frustrating is that it's so trivial. It doesn't matter at all, yet my completionist tendencies won't let me just leave it alone and then when I spend an hour working on it and get nowhere it just inflames me even more, so I'm sitting here fruitlessly searching and shouting "BALLS" at the screen in my head.
ETA: I should note that it just occurred to me to look at Polly's gravestone, and hers has much less information, making me think JWJr's is filled in with research. I'm going to have to go out there someday and see for myself.
The trouble is, it would be cool to have an ancestor from Cambridge because it's so close to here, and I can't tell if my logic is being damaged by that. To break it down:
In favor of James D Wells:
- evidence of birth in New York state
- birth more closely matches census
Against:
- nothing specifically lists James D after the army papers
In favor of James Wells Jr:
- name on the gravestone
- name on nearly all other trees
Against:
- conflicting birthplaces given
- some trees show his father remarrying and having a kid at 68, while others have completely different dates for his second wife's birth and the birth of their children (and the numbers and names of their children), so clearly something is fucked
- his wife's gravestone shows a birthdate about 9 years off from the census
Obviously it isn't necessarily true that these are two different people, because he could just be James D Wells Jr. But the different birthplaces and dates and parents make it seem likely to me that these are two completely different people. Two different people who each married women named Polly.
I think what makes this so frustrating is that it's so trivial. It doesn't matter at all, yet my completionist tendencies won't let me just leave it alone and then when I spend an hour working on it and get nowhere it just inflames me even more, so I'm sitting here fruitlessly searching and shouting "BALLS" at the screen in my head.
