Not a Family Knot

I am now one of 'those people'- and very glad to be, I might add! One of those people who really enjoys family history, talks about family history, spends free time on family history, and has a declared hobby of family history.

So- tale of the week:

Once upon a time there lived a father, George Richard who, with his wife, had sons he named Richard and George.

Richard had a son he named George (R.) the same year his brother, George, had a son he also named George (E.).

(Richard also had a son he named Frederick).

Then things became romantically complicated- and thus the knot!

Fast forward to my family history research... I came across three Beadle sisters who all had the same married last name- the records showed that Victoria married Richard' son, Frederick. (not a problem)

However (the knot), ONE AND THE SAME MAN named George, according to the records, had married both Sarah and her sister, Margaret. Then he would have had 22 children altogether- but I know he was NOT a polygamous. This George also had 2 sets of parents. Ummmm.... yeah, obviously there were 2 men named George.

So how to untie the knot if you do not know the background? How do you untie the knot once you realize there are 2 cousins born the same year named George?

It took about 10 hours of searching on familysearch.org and ancestry.com...

I found and traced birth records, marriage records and census records backwards to Grandpa George Richard to show which grandson George belonged to Richard and which belonged to his brother, George. Hooray! One set of parents for each grandson named George.

Then, I found census records to show that both Sarah and Margaret had separate households with separate husbands (although both named George)- sometimes in a different state! So, definitely two different husbands but with the same birth year and the same first and last name. Then, a few census records contained middle initials- hooray! I could finally say that George's son, George E., was married to Sarah Beadle and Richard's son, George R. (Richard), was married to Margaret Beadle!

Knot untied, right? Well, not quite. You see George & Sarah and George & Margaret each had a daughter they named Sarah Jane- the same year! And the records had Sarah Jane as just ONE PERSON with 2 SETS OF PARENTS! Oh boy.... (or I guess, girl).

BIG SIGH HERE...

Only thing that finally untied this knot was the fact that one Sarah Jane was born in Iowa and the other was born in Wisconsin... 

I love finding the sources needed to make the records correct. I love knowing that I am able to make a difference in the eternal scheme of things by putting families back together.

I am very blessed to now be one of these family history people! If you want any help, just ask!