Yes, I have run across two children with the very exact same name born a few years apart -- without the first child dying. The first child was my gg grandmother and a few years latter another child was baptized with the same name. I think that the priest may have written the name incorrectly. The name was Anna Maria and maybe the second child should have been Maria Anna. Janice Danks Karen Kolb wrote: > > Have any of you out there found a child born in year xxxx, and then > another child with the *exact* same name born a few years later, without > the first child dying? Could it be that there might be 2 children in the > same family with the same name (ala George Foreman) - and I know that > there is no variation in name - e.g. 2 Johann Jacobs. I have scoured for > a death of the first child and not found it. > > Another example - wife #1 has died, and wife #2 steps in. I have never > even in this case found a duplication of names unless the first child > with the name has died. > > So, is it the mistake of the pastor who transcribed an incorrect name? > Or could it happen? > > Jillaine Smith wrote: > > > > We just uncovered a little bit of a surprise that breaks off one branch of > > our tree and grafts a new one onto it (we think). I share it here for a > > couple of reasons: > > > > a) I'm curious to know from others how common the following type of name > > change is > > and > > b) to let other people know about this kind of thing in case it happens to you! > > > > Our ancestors out of Feilbingert, Rheinpfalz (just south of Kreuznach) are > > Joh. Heinrich Betz and his wife Maria Christina Dressel. We already > > figured out that most people whose names started with Johann or Maria or > > Anna usually went by their middle name, and in fact, this is what we see on > > most of the church records for this couple. He goes by Heinrich (while > > still in Germany; Henry after moving to Buffalo, NY), and she goes by > > Christina. > > > > When I was in the Pfalz last spring, and with the stateside assistance of > > my microfilm-reading cousin, we found the parents of each of these two > > people. He was son of Valentin Betz (we thought), and she was daughter of > > Adam Dressel. > > > > In Germany, I tried unsuccessfully to find Heinrich's and Christina's > > marriage record. Instead, I found a marriage record for Heinrich Betz and > > Maria Magdalena Dressel. This Heinrich was the son, not of Valentin, but > > of Jacob Betz; but Magdalena was also the daughter of Adam Dressel. We > > figured that the two sisters (Christina and Magdalena) just happened to > > marry two different Heinrich Betzes; we'd seen stuff like this happen > > before. I took a copy of this marriage record home anyway, in case we later > > found a connection to this other Heinrich. Good thing I did. > > > > As we burrowed into the church records to find the births of our Dressel > > ancestress, we discovered that the Maria Christina we thought was ours was > > born in 1783 but she died six years later in 1789! We figured that, as > > Germans often did back then, that the next daughter born would be named > > Maria Christina. BUT! The next daughter born, 7 April 1790, they named > > Maria Magdalena. Ah... here's the Magdalena that marries that *other* > > Heinrich (we thought). > > > > But where's our "new" Christina who marries OUR Heinrich and moves with him > > and several of their children to Buffalo in 1837? We could not find any > > more Maria Christina Dressels born to Adam and his wife. Strange. > > > > We moved on to documenting the rest of their family in Buffalo, and in > > doing so, we find Christina Dressel Betz's DEATH record in 1852. On it is > > indicated her date of birth: 7 April 1790. Huh?! That's the date of birth > > for her SISTER, Maria Magdalena Dressel. > > > > So we returned to our notes about the Feilbingert church records and found > > a Christina Dressel (daughter of Adam) who was CONFIRMED in > > 1804. Confirmation age is usually 14. 1804 minus 14 equals 1790. Again, > > the birth year of (we thought) her sister Magdalena. > > > > Keep in mind that finding these different pieces of information took place > > disjointedly over a nine-month period, and we only started putting these > > pieces together in the last couple of weeks. > > > > So, we now have significant evidence to believe that: > > > > * There was no "new" Maria Christina Dressel born sometime in the 1790s > > (who married our Heinrich about 20 years later) for whom we just hadn't > > found birth record yet; > > > > * That the Maria Magdalena Dressel, first daughter born after the death of > > her sister Maria Christina, was CALLED Christina even though her legal name > > was M. Magdalena. (And it's this that I want to know about -- how common > > was something like this?); and > > > > * That the marriage certificate that I found for Heinrich and Magdalena is > > indeed that of "OUR" Heinrich and Christina, that she used her legal name > > on this civil document. > > > > The branch this broke off was that of Heinrich's parents. We thought our > > Heinrich was the son of Valentin Betz and Maria Magdalena Wagner. We'd > > found his birth record (and I guess we just hadn't found the birth record > > of Heinrich, son of Jacob). But if all the above is true (and we really > > believe it is), then our Heinrich is actually the son of Jacob Betz and > > Anna Maria Seiz. Further evidence that this is true is that our Heinrich > > and Christina's first born son is named JACOB and NONE of their sons are > > named Valentin. > > > > (And I'm kicking myself because two weeks before we discovered all this, I > > sent off a request to the Civil Archivist for this region to research the > > line of Valentin Betz!) > > > > I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this matter. > > > > Sincerely, > > > > Jillaine Smith, Washington DC > > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jillaine > > (which has not yet been edited to reflect the above new information) > > > > __________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Talk to your friends online with Yahoo! Messenger. > > http://im.yahoo.com > > > > ==== PFALZ Mailing List ==== > > Going on vacation longer than 4 days? Go to > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/DEU/PFALZ.html > > to unsubscribe > > ==== PFALZ Mailing List ==== > Going on vacation longer than 4 days? 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