Do I have enough information to confirm these people as ancestors?

Question

A few months ago I was running through some simple census reports checking on an ancestor that was born about 1842. I could not find him living with his parents as a child. It seems his mother died, not sure. That's what many people say. I keep looking for him and he is living with the mother of the alleged woman that is supposed to be his mother. That would be his grandmother. But his "mother's" name was Nancy Lane Hopper, and his "father's" was John Sharp Coleman. His name was John Lane Coleman. Also he did the same with his son, taking the son's mother's last name and making it his middle name. His son's name was John Smith Coleman. None of this really makes too much sense. It seems their names matching up as the way they do, and him living with Nancy's mother. That would make sense if she died young as some say, but I don't really have any documents to say that these people are clearly his parents. I'm trying hard, but the lack of documents is what makes it tricky. Please leave your comments below, no rude comments please. I always appreciate and enjoy your answers here. Thanks.

P.S. If you would like to look him up, here is some information. His name was John Lane Coleman, of course. Also he was born about 1842, and died about 1905, both were in Rockingham County, North Carolina. And his wife's name was Cleopatra Smith.

Answer 1

When I first started researching I was advised to get three documents to prove a person as an ancestor, it isn't always easy, especailly the further you get back however it has stood the test of time and bearing in mind you only need one wrong person in your tree andyou are then collecting unrelated names, so it is worth the effort to make sure you have the right person.



Think about the records at that time in history that are available...so if it was the UK it would be after civil registration so birth, marriage death certs, PRs bap, christening, conformation, marriage, marriage banns, burial, census returns, indentures ( apprenticeships) manorial records, land, wills, probate...and maybe parish chest records if they were a crafts/trade person and did work for the church, military...to name a few.



If you are hitting a brickwall, often it is helpful if you research along branch lines...so siblings as these all go back to the same parents ( well normally) it also makes you look at other records, in the US you are lucky that marriage certs often have both parents names on them and death certificates also have lots more detailed information.....if that fails, then research another line for a while as 'some ancestors' are just very hard to find information about...my longest 'brickwall' was 15 years...but in that time I researched several other lines and went back to this ancestor several times and noticed something on a census I was looking at for some other ancestor and decided to see and that opened up my brickwall, it is also worth writing down a time line, so you follow their life and look at key dates when you know there are records, like census and rechecking the records you have as sometimes second looks at records reveals new information you miss first time...............



add: http://www.usgwarchives.org/nc/rockingham/census/1830/ 1830 cesus for Rockingham County ( scanned copies) ...12 years prior to his birth but if you haven't got scanned copies it may help with the previous generation



More Rockingham County records/indexes http://www.usgwarchives.org/nc/rockingham.htm

Answer 2

You've asked a primal question in Genealogy, and it is a carbon copy of the most important question asked in Philosophy: "How we can determine what is the Truth?"



Do you have enough information to confirm? Probably not.



However, further investigation is always merited.



Documents are made by humans; they are not infallible, sometimes they are outright lies. Versions of "Reality" are always questionable, or at minimum limited, when they derive from humans.



Genealogy currently doesn't much care about "having 3 documents" -- sometimes documents are wrong; carbon copies of a mistake, or just more outright lies. Never trust a document.



Genealogy is now about Evaluation and Validation of Evidence. We cannot understand absolute truth (most probably), so what we need to do instead is exhaustive research, exclude suppositions that are clearly unsupported, and keep suppositions that can be fitted with corresponding, independent data in context. It's an ugly, sweaty job.



Trust nothing. But therefore, exclude nothing.



Follow the lead, like a forensic detective. Your situation looks juicy to me. Could be great fun. Could lead to a better understanding of your family history. Maybe it's wrong; maybe it's right.



Keep up the fine work, and keep looking for the traces of their existence.

Answer 3

You have made some educated guesses, but without further information I'm afraid you haven't proven anything. There are SO many false genealogies based on unproven assumptions, guesses, wishful thinking or, worst of all, laziness or lack of knowledge. (For the latter, I say that only because I see so many armchair genealogists who see something on the internet (Ancestry.com, for example), take it for gospel, and simply add that information to their family tree without researching and verifying the data for themselves.) Genealogy is all about proof, which is sadly often to come by.



Don't let your current brick wall discourage you! You are doing the right thing seeking help here -- and any other internet site you can think of! If you aren't already a member, Ancestry.com allows you to search for free this July 4th (2011) weekend. If you're really into researching your tree, the cost of membership is definately worth it.



Anyway, there is a post at Genealogy.com you might be interested in:

John Sharp Coleman, posted February 23, 2011 at Genealogy.com --- I am trying to determine if my gr gr grandfather John Coleman (born in North Carolina in 1816 and died in Kansas in 1887) is John Sharpe Coleman son of Tillman Coleman and Jennett Walker of North Carolina. (Tillman Coleman was the son of Robert Spillsby Coleman (died 1811) and Martha Sharpe.) John Sharpe Coleman married first Nancy J Hopper in 1839 and Mary J Hopper in 1848. If he is "my" John Coleman he was in Ellison Warren Co., Illinois by 1850 census where he married Mary Jane Bay Cole (widow of Lyman Cole) in 1853. (There may have been another wife between Mary J Hopper and Mary Jane Bay named Sarah). By the 1870 census, John Coleman and Mary J Bay Coleman were in Bourbon Co., Kansas where they remained. If anyone can help establish that "my" John Coleman is John Sharpe Coleman I would be most appreciative."

See the post at http://genforum.genealogy.com/coleman/messages/9050.html



Good luck!

Answer 4

Who was Nancy's mother? Was Nancy's maiden name Hopper or Lane?