On Wed, 6 Feb 2008 10:18:45 -0700, "Tara" <NOtnlarkinSPAM@iparagon.net> wrote: >"singhals" <singhals@erols.com> wrote in message >news:Y-KdnYWEQP5XQjTanZ2dnUVZ_u-unZ2d@rcn.net... >> >> I've stared at this until I've driven myself into a depression. So then I >> dragged some good friends into it, and they've gone cross-eyed. >> >> Now I'm inviting comments from the world-at-large. (g) >> >> What are the odds of a man b 1833 who, except for his CW service, NEVER >> lived more than 27 miles from his birthplace in VA, having married 3 >> separate women with the same given names, only the middle of whom left a >> death record, and only the first and 2nd left a marriage record? >> >> There are numerous other details, but that's the broad picture, and what >> I'm after here is -- is this a common-as-dirt scenario, or it is a >> one-of-a-kind, or is it neither rare nor frequent? >> >> Thanks. >> >> Cheryl > >I think I'd probably go with neither/nor. Certainly not common, but not >impossible either. I'm not going to go through and count, but I'd guess I >have 4 or 5 men in my family tree, close to that timeframe and in the >VA/NC/KY area that have married two women with the same given name. Three >doesn't seem that unlikely to me. And if they're Marys or Sarahs, which it >sometimes seems about every 3rd female was, then your odds go up quite a >bit. Just my guess....<shrug> Definitely not impossible. In fact, the closer he stayed to where he was born, the likelier it probably is. You know how names ran in families in those days, and you would often have cousins or second cousins with the same names. And people also named children after friends and neighbours. I had a heck of a time figuring out which of four young women with the same given AND surname, born within a two year time span and living within a few miles of one another was actually the one who married my ggggrandfather. My ladies were named Elizabeth. In my database, that is the second most frequent women's name (after Mary). I certainly have several ancestors who married two women with the same given name. Three is not that much of a stretch. -- Jane