Mightier Acorns

Journeys through Genealogy and Family History

A parody of a family coat of arms designed with acorns as elements, with the motto "ex gladnis potentioribus" Latin for "from Mighty Acorns"
From Mighty Acorns

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Tad Callin has been working on family history and genealogy since the late 1990s. He does most of his research on Ancestry and posts what he learns to WikiTree.

Wavetops: Two Harts in Lewis County

Stephen Hart and Stephen Hart lived 30 miles and 4 years apart

I told you about Martin Hart (1792-1879) and his life story several weeks ago. I told you about his connection to his father, Stephen Hart (1767-1857), and shared some facts about Stephen…but then I started to write today’s post about Stephen and realized I made a mistake. I included this paragraph:

The Hart family moved to Stillwater, New York, and from there to a newly settled town called Pinckney in Lewis County, New York, around 1805. Stephen Hart figured in the early history of Pinckney. The first town meeting was held at his house, and he served as town supervisor in 1815. He served additional terms in 1817, 1821, 1827-28, and 1830-31.

(Hough, Franklin Benjamin, (1822-1885), History of Lewis County, New York; with…biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers; page 497-499.)

That paragraph refers to facts about a second Stephen Hart who lived in Lewis County, NY. The Stephen Hart I’m interested in settled in Turin in about 1799, and the Hough book talks about both men without indicating that Mr. Hough knew they were two different people.

Parallel Lives

Complicating matters, the two Stephens have very similar biographies. They were born about 4 years apart (one in 1767, one in 1771) and died about 4 years apart (1857 and 1861). They moved from their respective homes to Lewis County about 7 years apart (older Stephen in 1799, younger in 1806) – one from Torrington, CT, and the other from Stillwater in Saratoga County, NY:

map of upstate New York, showing the respective journeys of both Stephens
The elder Stephen came from Torrington to Turin; the younger came from Saratoga County to Pinckney

To keep them straight and to illustrate which Stephen is the “correct” Stephen, I added a Table of Evidence to his WikiTree profile page. Then, I added the “Easily confused” template to differentiate the two WikiTree profiles and ensured the Table of Evidence was on both pages.

Whew.

Seeing Double

Stephen Hart is not the only person in this family who has a doppelganger to watch out for. Eunice Seymour came from a prominent and prolific family, too, and there are marriage records for more than one “Eunice Seymour” in Connecticut from around the same time. As I go hunting for Eunice’s ancestry, I need to keep a sharp eye out to make sure that I have the correct person before adding information to my tree.

(One of these days, I might put together enough reliable information to post about Eunice. If I’m lucky.)

The Lesson?

As reminded us (Twice!) recently: Trust Nobody!

Tales & Trees Genealogy
Trust Nobody
Hi- I’m Sadie of Tales & Trees Family History Services, and I have a confession. I had a line in my tree wrong for ~years~ because I fell victim to a classic Ancestry user error. I even told people I was distantly related to a Salem Witch Trial victim and president because of it. (Now I know I’m not…
Read more
2 months ago · 15 likes · 2 comments · Sadie Nelson

Tales & Trees Genealogy
Trust Nobody: Part II
Read Part I here…
Read more
2 months ago · 4 likes · 2 comments · Sadie Nelson

And when we say “don’t trust anybody,” we mean “don’t blindly accept facts without testing them.” We are all fallible, and we can all make mistakes. Telling you not to “trust” means that you should always be questioning the facts. Examine the original sources, and if somebody isn’t citing sources, don’t accept their work until you can verify it yourself.

Because you see how easy it is for any of us, even if we are trying our best, to make a mistake, miss a clue, or perpetuate a mistaken assumption. Sometimes you can get away with that, but eventually, you will find yourself with two Harts, wondering how you got into this mess.

And having two hearts is only good if you’re this guy. (IYKYK.)

Doctor Who's future in doubt as Ncuti Gatwa 'heads for exit'

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5 responses to “Wavetops: Two Harts in Lewis County”

  1. Kirsi Dahl Avatar
    Kirsi Dahl

    Your confession is noted. :) I jest, but of course it’s important to update our genealogical information when we know there is an error. For years I believed that I had an ancestor named Daniel McDaniel who was arrested in Scotland in the 1740s around the time of The Battle of Culloden. He had the choice to be put to death or shipped to the colonies as an indentured servant. He chose the later, ended up marrying his “master’s” daughter and many generations later I am here. And there are many online trees (some with sources) that perpetuate this information. Then, a few years ago, I came across a document that a woman had added to FamilyTree and it outlined this story and then proceeded to list all the facts that make this story not true. Truth 1) I have an ancestor named Daniel McDaniel; Truth 2) There was a Daniel McDaniel whose life mostly matched the story; and Truth 3) The two are not the same. The story is good, but it’s not my story.

    Good job parsing your two Harts and making it easier for other researchers to do the same!

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    1. Mightier Acorns Avatar
      Mightier Acorns

      That seems to happen more often than you might think.
      I was researching a family a few years ago and could not figure out why things were not adding up. It turned out that two men named “Amasa Nichols” lived in Wisconsin. Their birthdates weren’t that close (1844 and 1857), but they still required untangling!

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  2. Jill Swenson Avatar
    Jill Swenson

    Interesting how one error compounds over time and fascinating to see you discern the two different persons with the same name.

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  3. Sadie Nelson Avatar
    Sadie Nelson

    Thanks for the shoutout! Yes, same-name individuals are tricky to begin with, not to mention if their dates were so similar and they ended up in the same town! Great job sorting the two out 👌🏻 (I’m intrigued by the “easily confused” template you mentioned- can this be found somewhere? What a great idea!)

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    1. Mightier Acorns Avatar
      Mightier Acorns

      Oh, yeah! I meant to link it:

      https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Easily_Confused

      If you’re not super-familiar with using wikimarkup, that page does have some examples for different ways to put it on a profile.

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