In the midst of this writing challenge, I was sidetracked. In
fact, this is catch-up. I was asked to update a tree on Ancestry.com for a
family member. She doesn’t have the time right now to do the detail work. It’s fun
and easy for me and my tree is pretty complete.
I pride myself on getting the facts right. I check names and
dates. I check ethnicity. I double-check dates. I say that twice because I
found that my great, great, great grandfather died 15 years before his son was
born. What?
All right, I delete the death date I have and make a note to
go back and see where I went wrong. I continue with her tree. Why are there
three Martha Jane’s? There are three of a lot of the people. I can see why her
tree needs help.
I flip back to my tree. I have three of some people too.
Where did I go wrong? It seems that in my haste early on, some of the more
distant relatives were double on the family trees I added. Back then, I wasn’t
as careful.
It helps to pay attention. I no longer add references twice.
I am very careful but after doing this challenge, I am so familiar with the
family names that I know when they’re wrong. That doesn’t mean I get it right.
The name “Rhea” is not that common but in Tennessee,
it seems that all of the men are named “John Rhea.” Honestly, I get the handing
down the name thing but in ten generations, there are eight!
So how did John Rhea’s father die 15 years before he was
born? Obviously, I have the wrong John Rhea but with so many to choose from,
which one do I pick. They are all born within 20 years of each other. That
seems like an easy choice but there are variables.
For example, my great grandmother married her second cousin.
That’s a chart I had to diagram to understand.
Martha Pricilla Rhea
and her brother John Elijah Rhea Jr
1790- 1850 1804
– 1859
Married Married
John McColloam Lucy
Anderson
1773 – 1850 1808
– 1865
(Already, there are new things to research. Martha and John
McColloam died the same year. That’s a clue for something, another thing to add
to the why list.)
They had: They
had:
James Northcross McColloam John
Carter Rhea
1820 – 1898 1842
– 1884
So far so good, James and John are cousins. This is where it
gets interesting. James is 24 years older that John.
Married Married
Mary Polly Gray Martha
Jane McColloam
1825 – 1888 1848
– 1929
They had:
Martha Jane McColloam
Martha Jane and John Carter were contemporaries. Regardless
of the family relationship, they were both the same age. There were plenty of
other choices for either of them but who knows what draws people together. That’s
another thing to add to the I want to know list. You will also notice that
there are three John’s. UGH! (As an aside, Martha and John had nine children.
None of them are named John.)
No comments:
Post a Comment