I have been told that in the 1600 to 18000's that Junior & or Senior after a gentleman's name, did not necessarily mean that they were father & son, but that 2 men of the same name in a community were used Sr. & Jr. only to denote the elder & the younger. Any fact to this?????? Discussion??? What you've found to be true???? This might clear up some problems that I'm having in my research in more than one branch of the family. Thanks, ljuhl

JR. & Sr. SURNAME EXTENSIONS Following is a transcription of an entry in the Index to Marriage Bonds and Returns, Book 4, Located at the Fauquier County Court House, Warrenton, VA: PAGE NO. INTENT TO MARRY PARENTS BONDSMAN 133 Lawson A. Heflin William Heflin Jr. William Heflin Jr. Ann Eliza Heflin William Heflin Sr. William Heflin Sr. Bondsmen were Lawson A. Heflin, William Heflin Jr., and William Heflin Sr. The marriage document identifies Lawson A. Heflin as the son of William Heflin Jr. and Miss Ann Eliza Heflin as the daughter of William Heflin Sr. A lot of the early Heflin researchers have proliferated the interpretation of this marriage bond as William Heflin Jr. also, being the son of William Heflin Sr. This misinterpretation was further compounded when an early researcher assigned the middle name of Lawson to William Heflin Jr. The assignment of middle names by this researcher was common place for this researcher and he did so to help him keep all of the William’s, James’, and John’s straight in his own mind. Unfortunately, a lot of these middle names have also been proliferated by subsequent researchers. In fact, the William Heflin Jr. here (Irish Line) is the son of John Hefferlin (VA Revolutionary War Soldier) and his middle name was James. The William Heflin Sr. here (German Line) is really William Heflin Jr. (who married first Susannah Sukey Ellis and second Elizabeth Payne) the son of William Hefling Sr. and Margaret Nancy Haddox. This misinterpretation was made because of the common day interpretation of Jr. being the son of a Sr. with the same given names. In the olden days it was common practice to identify two individuals with the same given name by attaching the Jr. to the younger of the two, and Sr. to the elder regardless of whether or not they are related. In the above case, the William Heflin Jr. was born on 20 August 1777 and the William Heflin Sr. was born on 7 Mar 1740 and were of different lineage. The identification of the parents of Lawson A. Heflin and Ann Eliza Heflin is supported by analysis of the Fauquier Co. Personal Property Tax Lists with the German Line being located in NW Fauquier Co. and the Irish Line being located in Southern Fauquier Co., VA. Regards, Phyllis. > I have been told that in the 1600 to 18000's that > Junior & or Senior after a gentleman's name, did > not necessarily mean that they were father & son, > but that 2 men of the same name in a community > were used Sr. & Jr. only to denote the elder & the > younger. > > Any fact to this?????? > Discussion??? > What you've found to be true???? > > This might clear up some problems that I'm having > in my research in more than one branch of the family. > > Thanks, > ljuhl > > ==== VASTAFFO Mailing List ==== > Visit the Stafford County USGenWeb Home Page! > http://www.rootsweb.com/~vastaffo > > ============================== > Search more than 150 million free records at RootsWeb! > http://searches.rootsweb.com/