Two people with the same name and relationships but different birthdates
I found two people in my family tree named Silas Barnard, they have the same name and family relationships but they have different birthdates. I'm not sure if I just don't have enough historical records to determine who is who or if they are just the same person. Any thoughts on this?
Best Answer
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You have received really answers to your question. We are including the article "How do I decide if two records in Family Tree are about the same person?" which may also help. Information on our ancestors are only as good as the source(s). Look carefully at your sources and make your decision on how to handle both of these ancestors.
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Post the PIDs, please.
Absent specific details, general advice is: work all the surrounding profiles. Attach historical records, examine the images, and standardize dates and place names. Often in the process you will find the answer to questions such as: is Silas Barnard 2 persons, one with some wrong information, or 2 duplicate profiles.
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Sometimes the different birthdates come from different records, such as a date on the birth certificate and the christening date, so checking sources can be very helpful. Dates on Census records were often estimated. In the case of marriage dates, there is the date of intention to marry, the date for the marriage, and the date it was recorded.
If you find they are not the same person, you may wish to try to figure out a way to distinguish the two, such as Jr/Sr, or a middle initial.
We hope this will assist you in distinguishing the situation with your Silas Barnard study.
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Sometimes a family will name two different children with the same name.
You may be able to find a death record for the first born one before the birth of the second one or you may be able to track both of them through their separate lives or you may find enough information to declare them the same person. But don't merge them until you are sure of the situation.
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Sometimes records will have different sources that people add, or sometimes they put a christening date in the birth date area instead. Sometimes there will be multiple records with different dates for the same event. Sometimes people just make mistakes. The important thing is to remember that we are really trying to determine if these two records are for the same person. And since you have the same relationships, that is a better indicator that they are the same person. Look at relationships more than dates. You should be safe to assume that because of the relationships, these two records are for the same person.
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To summarise some of the comments made above, if the dates of birth are within a few months I would assume one of the records contains an error - possibly, as suggested, relating to a christening / naming event, instead of the actual birth. However, any difference of a year or more definitely points (as Gordon suggests) to one Silas Barnard having died and a second child having been born and given the same first name. I have encountered several, similar instances - often with no trace to be found of the burial or death of the first child.
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This topic begs for a help page. On the research wiki perhaps?
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