Sue Woodworth wrote: :Would someone please explain to me how to figure out - in the :Barbour Records for Middletown - which Joseph Hubbard is the :father of Joseph 2nd who married Sara Brooks. Do I presume that it :is the Joseph directly above Joseph 2nd? Hi Sue, In cases of ambiguity, the safest method is to establish the identities of *each* of the duplicate candidates. That method is how I can differentiate this Sarah Brooks from the dozens of other women in CT with the same name. You might find that Joseph Hubbard, bridegroom, is "none of the above" with regard to Barbour's listings for Josephs born at Middletown. (He might have been born elsewhere, or might be one of the MIAs whose birth is not recorded in Barbour.) The application of male suffixes such as Jr. and 2nd varies, and you cannot rely on it literally to establish ancestral chains. For example, two second cousins named Daniel Brooks were contemporary residents for several decades at Concord, MA. The cousin who lived there first was known as Daniel, while the cousin who moved there a few years following was known as Daniel 2d to distinguish him. I spent two years untangling a similar knot with men named Nathaniel and Nathaniel Brooks 2d at Worcester, MA. These again proved to be contemporary cousins, not father and son. Sorry this isn't the "simple" answer you may have hoped for. :-) Chris