For Anne, I can't explain why some of the early lines got confused but it seems that this is what has happened to these Piatt listings. I have seen a tangling such as this in my own lines unrelated to Piatts. In my own lines, my great-grandfather moved the whole family from KY to WV around 1900. Then my grandfather returned his family only to KY. Subsequently, a descendant in the WV line wanted to compile a genealogy and relied on faulty and foggy memories of the WV people concerning the KY line. And this much mangled information became posted on one of the major genealogy sites! So researchers must beware and always, always double-check and confirm. For your first John Piatt listed we have his birth as: JOHN PIATT born 15 Jul 1740, Six Mile Run, NJ; d 1819 Lycoming Co PA; son of John Piatt and Frances Van Vliet Wyckoff Piatt. In this case, the date of the month of the birth varies by 10 days, possibly the result of sloppy handwriting, and the year varies by 1. And I just read a long, complicated explanation of the change in the calendar done in 1732. I have seen many dates of this time period written as 1733/1734 for example. Possibly this descrepency of a year is related to the change in the calender. Just a guess, though. The birth location of Netherlands for the online listing may have been an assumed location. The family was on Six Mile Run in New Jersey, though. There is a book of old maps of the road across New Jersey which is probably still in print which shows the location of John Piatt (Sr)'s house. As to the second, and older, John Piatt you list we have: JOHN PIATT, b about 1712, Six Mile Run NJ; d Jul 1760 St Thomas, Virgin Islands; son of Jacob Piatt and Mary Hull. I have seen John Piatt's parents listed as Pierre Piatt and Eloise DuFore in a set of volumes by Virkus, The American Compendium of Genealogy, I believe. However, no source is given and it is my understanding that Virkus has all but been descredited as publishing fictious genealogies. An interesting speculation was made, perhaps on the list a while ago, that "Eloise DuFore" was a corruption of the phrase "alias LaFluer." However, the birth dates of the two listings are close. We have "about 1712 " and you found 1710. Perhaps we could get now blissfully retired librarian KEN LAUER to comment on the reliability of the Virkus publication. As to William Piatt we have: WILLIAM PIATT, baptized 1 Oct 1743, Six Mile Run NJ; d 4 Nov 1791, Fort Recovery OH. This was Captain William Piatt of the Revolutionary War and of the later Indian Wars. He was killed at St Clair's defeat in northwest Ohio in 1791. His name is on a monument to the fallen officers at Fort Recovery. Lynn White and I stopped at the monument a number of years ago after a conference in Fort Wayne. Wherever this William was born, he was baptized in New Jersey. He was the 3rd son of John Piatt and Frances Van Vliet Wyckoff Piatt. There is a PETER PIATT listed as being born 19 Jan 1707/08 in Piscataway NJ to Jacob Piatt and Mary Hull Piatt, making him a brother to the elder John, above. I was hoping that we might clear up some of the confusion--one way or another--by locating the papers of the late N Louise Lodge who published "Everybody's Ancestry" and "The Tribe of Jacob." She was researching in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and to my knowledge was the earliest Piatt researcher. Perhaps her papers held references to sources that no one else has yet uncovered. But, unfortunately, her papers are lost at best, and at worst, destroyed. I suppose we could always hope that some of them survive. And perhaps we should look for other Piatt papers. I know that there are some Piatt papers among the Worthington Family Papers at the Ohio Historical Society. I should look at those again. And another project would be to contact the author of the recent book on Sarah Morgan Bryan Piatt to see what original papers might survive there. The Castles still have some, too, I believe. Are there other possibilities? -- Laverne Ingram Piatt Ontario, OH