Searching for info my Great-Grandparents on my mothers side. I know my Great-grandfather was Thornto
Thornton S.W. Richards 94BX-MBF..married to Mary Grant 94BX-MBR...son Lisle Weir Richards 94BXM5Y. How can I find out if the 2 Thornton Richards are the same?
Best Answer
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But there is always the possibility of getting such a solid connection that you don't need censuses because the match is so good. This might not be such a match but....
I found Lisle Weir Richards in the New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 on Ancestry and next to him on the passenger list (lines 11 & 12) is a John Theophilus Richards - 1y older than LWR and he also comes from St. Vincent. (LWR is already a US Citizen so shouldn't even be on this page - fortunately he is, else I'd never have spotted the possible connection!). JTR's father is, according to the passenger list, TSW Richards of Kingstown and JTR is going to stay with LW Richards in Brooklyn.
Now look at your family - could Jack Richards be John Theophilus Richards? Only you can try and find out more... But having three names matching is starting to be solid on its own, without any full coverage things like censuses. If you do have 3.
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You have to carry out research into the records of that area and era to see if there are any genuinely duplicated people of those names. Duplicate names happen, of course, but hopefully will show up in baptism / marriage / burial registers, censuses, or directories.
In this particular instance, someone has decided that both Lisle Richards match the same 1940 US census. But, you need to be convinced that the match of "your" Lisle to that 1940 census and the match of the other Lisle to the same census was indeed correct. Is there another in the US censuses? Could there be another Lisle in Australia (say)?
The unfortunate part is that we really need some sort of view that covers all the population likely to be relevant - the problem here is that you may find difficulty in viewing the full population of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines...
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Trying to summarise the methods, I think it comes out like:
1. Research as many collections as possible for both candidates (i.e. "yours" and "theirs"). Take particular note of more unusual items like passenger lists and military draft registration that give names and addresses of other relatives.
2. Build up a picture not just of each candidate but of the network of their families, friends, employers, etc.
3. What are the points of similarity across both networks? What are the points of difference?
4. Is there any evidence of duplication - e.g. "yours" and "theirs" being in 2 places at once in a census? Or two different births of people with the same name in the same area and era? Or marriage or death...
5. Remember that unusual names *do* repeat - two cousins can have the same name, e.g. But the more evidence of matching there is, the less likely that this is coincidence.
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