The following article originally appeared on the SNOW list and was forwarded to another list to which I subscribe. It is such a good article that I wanted to pass it along. I have actually found some of these situations in my own research. In fact, it is possible that the daughter listed for Frederick CARLOCK, Jr. (s/o Frederick, David) listed on page 437 of the book "History of the Carlock Family", by Marion Pomeroy CARLOCK, 1929, may have actually been a male named David and the ancestor of George CARLOCK/CEARLOCK, b. ca. 1779, NC, who m. Rachel LANDERS, 11 Oct 1805, Warren Co., KY, and Catherine CARLOCK, b. NC, who m. James HENDRICKS, 10 Oct 1908, Warren Co., Ky. I recently received information from one of the subscribers to the CEARLOCK list which supports this theory. Sue Tilleman List Administrator for the BOLDWYN, CARLOCK, and CEARLOCK Rootsweb Mailing Lists <A HREF="http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/t/i/l/Susan-E-Tilleman/index.html"> Home Page of Susan Cearlock Tilleman</A> -----ORIGINAL MESSAGE----- >From: [email protected] >Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 17:11:14 EDT > >The below article is posted in the archives on Genealogy.com > >Impossible and Improbable by Donna Przecha > >Genealogy thrives as a rewarding hobby because most people in the past lived >orderly lives. We expect them to be born, marry, have children and die, and >that there will be someone to record most of these events somewhere. Usually >this is exactly what happens. All we have to do is find out where these >events were recorded. However, occasionally we come across events that just >do not fit into the orderly scheme of things. Sometimes they seem to be >highly improbable or completely impossible. > >Disowned Children > >In past times marrying outside the family's religion, race, culture or social >class was considered by some to be taboo. If children violated this rule, >some families would disown them and even declare them dead. In one case the >parents not only declared the child dead but went so far as to erect a >tombstone with her name and her marriage date as the death date. People who >were mentally ill or physically deformed might be sent off to an asylum or >hospital and the family would act as if they were dead. They might be >recorded in the family Bible as having died, so when you find the individual >in a census you will be thoroughly confused! A daughter might also be >disowned if she became pregnant and was not married or a son cut out of the >family if he ended up in prison. Obituaries were generally provided by the >families, and facts and children who did not suit the image the family wished >to project could be omitted. If a child was not mentioned in the obituary in >the local hometown paper, it didn't mean the child didn't exist or was >deceased. > >Finding disowned children can be very difficult because they often moved a >long way from their original home to a completely different environment. >Someone from Connecticut might move to Idaho or Texas for no apparent reason. >With more national indexes becoming available, it is easier to locate these >people. Since most census indexes are still on a state-by-state basis, you >almost have to check each state as there is no predicting where they might >have gone. > >The names of disowned children might turn up in a will or probate. In a will >the parent might want to mention the child just to be sure he or she is cut >out of the inheritance. If there was no will, all living children would need >to be named in legal documents relating to an inheritance. > In past times marrying outside the family's religion, race, culture or >social class was considered by some to be taboo. If children violated this >rule, some families would disown them and even declare them dead. > >Bigamy > >Even in this day of instant communication with cell phones, pagers and the >Internet, you can still pick up the paper and read about a man who was >married to different women and had two different families, each of which was >unknown to the other. (Why a man would want the responsibilities of two >families and keeping them secret is beyond me!) In the past it was so much >easier to acquire two wives, although it was more often serial rather than >concurrent. If a man from Virginia went to California to look for gold, he >might decide after a couple of fruitless years that he didn't want to go home >and face the ridicule of his family and neighbors. He might decide to just >settle down in California, perhaps open a store or take up farming and marry >a girl he met there. Since he may have stopped writing to his family in >Virginia months ago, he would hardly feel it was necessary to go to all the >trouble and agony of trying to get a divorce. He might even send back an >announcement of his death just to close that chapter of his life. > Even in this day of instant communication, you can still pick up the paper >and read about a man who was married to different women and had two different >families, each of which was unknown to the other. > >When a husband disappears, the wife usually goes through the legal process to >have him declared dead after a certain period of time. You might encounter >the family with the husband in one census and in the next find the wife >listed as a widow. This would lead you to believe he died in the meantime and >you would look for cemetery records, obituaries, wills and death records. If >he simply disappeared, you will not find any of these and may need to explore >court records for a legal document declaring him dead. Of course, he may not >really be dead at all. > >Name Changes > >Many men, especially new immigrants, found it too overwhelming to try to >support a family and just walked off and were never heard from again. They >might even change their names, settle down in a new area and get married >again. This is very difficult to track and document, but one place where this >could come out is in military pension records. If a man was in the Civil War, >his first wife would know he was entitled to a pension and would apply for >one when it became obvious he was never coming back, and could be presumed >dead. If he remarried under another name, he might feel enough loyalty to his >second wife to disclose his military service and the name under which he >enlisted. Once he died and the second wife applied for her pension, both >applications would end up with the same service record. > >If you suspect a possible name change, be sure to consult as many legal or >official documents as possible. > >If you suspect a possible name change, be sure to consult as many legal or >official documents as possible, such as pension papers, wills, naturalization >papers or land deeds. Even if a man changed names he might think he had to >include his "also known as" (AKA) name to be sure the transaction was valid, >fearing the original name might come out at some point and nullify the action. > >A woman could create genealogical confusion by not changing her name. If a >woman had a child out of wedlock, she might move to another town, keep her >maiden name but call herself Mrs., claiming she was a widow. Even if people >knew she had never married, a mother would be called Mrs. as a courtesy >because it would be embarrassing to all concerned to suggest that an >unmarried woman had a child. > >In African-American research, many people assume that a freed slave would >take the family name of the person who had owned him before emancipation. In >fact, the freed slaves could take any name they liked and many experimented >with several names before settling on one. Siblings might choose different >surnames so it is not obvious to a researcher that they are related. A parent >might have lived on a different plantation and select a different name from >the child. Many chose names of famous people or people they admired, so the >surname may or may not be significant for the researcher. > Freed slaves could take any name they liked, so the surname may or may not >be significant for the researcher. > >Duplicate Names > >Sometimes a researcher looking through baptism records will find a couple who >gave the same name to two different children. A look at the burials usually >reveals that the first child with that name died before the second one was >born. In some cases no such death is found. In fact, both children seem to >live, grow up and produce their own records. This can cause the researcher a >bit of confusion and reexamination of the records. For some reason perhaps a >lack of imagination? parents will give children almost identical names. In >one family there was a John and a Jonathan, and both lived to adulthood. Mary >and Maria are also possibilities. > >Sometimes, especially in German names, the first name would be the same for >all children of the same sex, but the second name would be different. A >family might consist of Johann Georg, Johann Wilhelm, Johann Josef, Anna >Barbara, Anna Maria and Anna Theresa. Needless to say, the children usually >went by their middle names and the children might be known as Georg, Johann, >Josef, Barbara, Anna and Theresa. In later records, they might reverse the >name since the middle name was the one usually used. This means you almost >have to follow the lives of all the brothers to be sure who was really >Johann. Just to confuse matters, Georg and Josef might use their official >first name, Johann, on a record. > Sometimes, especially in German names, the first name would be the same >for all children of the same sex, but the second name would be different. > >Informal Adoptions > >Very often in the past, adoptions were very informally arranged. A woman >might have a child that she really couldn't care for, because of health or >financial reasons, while her sister might have wanted a child but was unable >to have one. It might be agreed between the two families that the child would >be given to the other to raise. No papers were signed or legal documents >filed. Similarly, a foundling might be taken in by a family and simply raised >as their own. > >Wrong Sex > >We have all encountered a person being classified as a male in one census and >a female in another. This frequently happens with unusual names, or names >that can be either sex, and usually it is just an error on the part of the >census taker. However, there have been cases where children have been raised >as if they were the opposite sex. Boys were dressed like girls when they were >small and a mother who wanted a girl and was unable to have any more children >might well continue that deception until the child revolted. Sex change >operations were not possible 100 years ago but people could live as if they >were the opposite sex. A woman might be especially tempted to masquerade as a >man if she wished to be a soldier or a cowboy or follow some equally >masculine occupation. Very recently a well-known band leader died and it was >found that he, even though he was married, was actually a woman and no one >knew. > We have all encountered a person being classified as a male in one census >and a female in another. This is usually just an error on the part of the >census taker, but alternate explanations are sometimes possible. > >Race Change > >While following a family back through the census you might find a person who >had always been classified as white, listed as mulatto, meaning a mixture of >white and African ancestry. While we know the census taker often made >mistakes, this might mean there is African-American ancestry in that line. >Appearance played a big part in racial designation and when possible, many >people of mixed ancestry would "pass" for white when they could. The children >of Sally Hemings are a good example. (Whether or not you believe Thomas >Jefferson was the father, it is generally accepted that the father of the >Hemings children was white.) > >Sally herself was 1/4 black, as her father and maternal grandfather were both >white. Her children were only 1/8 black. They all drifted off, with or >without permission, and settled elsewhere. Eston at first settled in Ohio and >in 1852 moved to Wisconsin where he changed his name from Hemings to >Jefferson and his race to white. Eston's descendants did not even know of >their black ancestry. Beverly (a son) and Harriet apparently disappeared into >white society. Thomas became a minister in the African Methodist church and >Madison stayed in the black community. > >Many people, especially in the south, have both white and black ancestry. >Given the conditions and disadvantages under which blacks, even free ones, >had to live, it made sense to be classified as white if at all possible. It >made their lives and the lives of their families much easier. > Many people, especially in the south, have both white and black ancestry. >Given the conditions and disadvantages under which blacks, even free ones, >had to live, many people of mixed ancestry would "pass" for white when they >could. > >Facing the Impossible > >I would not encourage anyone to look for any of these extreme situations in >his or her own family research, but if the impossible or the improbable >appears, keep an open mind. If you come across one of these situations, this >line may be truncated. Even if you do manage to work around it, it will take >much research and documentation to gather enough evidence to prove what >really happened. However, if you do manage to piece the whole story together, >it will probably be the highlight of your family history! > >Ruth in NC