Genealogy: It's All In a Name

Or is it?

What does the name in the photo above look like to you?

Dew Nankin.

According to the 1810 census it's David Nankin.  The 1820 census has it as David Rankins. In another document it's David Ranking and on my family tree is Richard Rankin.

So which one is correct?

I'm going with David Rankin only because I have another source, the very reliable will of a Jonathan Gregory of South Carolina, who listed one of his heirs as Esther Rankin, wife of David Rankin.

Now let's look at Esther Gregory Rankin.  Who was she? Esther was the mother of one of my ancestors. She was born in South Carolina and appeared on the 1830 census in Edgefield, South Carolina as Easter Rankin, head of household.  During the 1830's David disappeared off of the radar and Esther ended up in Simpson County, Mississippi. The first time she appeared in Simpson county records was on the 1834 tax lists.  She was listed as Hester Rankin and so follows the pattern of name changes between Esther, Hester, and Easter throughout census and tax lists up until the 1860 census where in her late seventies she disappeared from the records.

So why so many name changes?

David and Esther Rankin were like so many people during the 19th century.  They were illiterate. They didn't know how to spell their names so they depended on the literate census takers to get it right. That's the thing though, sometimes the census taker didn't get it right because while many of them were literate, there were some who were only partially literate and just made it up as they went along which could explain the Hester, Esther, and Easter variations.

And let's not forget about the changes in dialect. The census takers had to go with what they heard which could mean anything really. Many locations have a distinct dialect, the south is no different so in South Carolina Esther Rankin may sound different than it would in Mississippi. Even within the same state, David Rankin might sound like David Ranking.

Frustrated yet?

Not really.  Just keep an open mind and remember that a name may change several times. While combing through records, write down the different name variations, and keep searching for them. ALL of them. Eventually you will find success. Our ancestors want to be found.  They have stories to tell.

Is Your Genealogy Correct?

Many people I know would say, "Yes, it's finished and it's correct."  I used to think that was the case with my mom's side of the family up until a week ago.  Now I'm not so sure.

My mom and I are working on getting all my grandmother's family history together so that she can give it to her Mississippi cousins. We want to dot all the i's and cross all our t's so too speak.  As we've traced line by line on our family tree, adding sources as we go, we've discovered that we've got a few problems. Actually we've got more than a few problems.

I must admit that when we first started this project it was to keep me busy and help with my recovery but now it's become something more than that. I'm focused on figuring out the mysterious cases of the Farthing, Powell, and Rankin families.  Yep, that's right we've uncovered inaccuracies with at least three lines of our family and we've just begun our search.

Let's look at the curious case of Richard Edward Farthing.  According to our records his parents were Richard Farthing and Elizabeth Parsons. I wanted to confirm that information so I did a little bit of research on the "father" Richard Farthing.  He died the 27 November 1861 in Robeson, Tennessee.  I was curious to see if he had a will out there and sure enough I found probate record for Robeson, Tennessee posted online. After searching through the images I found a copy of his will. BINGO.

Not really.

This Richard Farthing of Tennessee, the "father" of my Richard Farthing wrote in his will, "...equally divided between all of my children sons and daughters, namely Lewis Farthing, Enoch Farthing, Emily Highsmith, Polly Jones, Ephraim Farthing, Coleman Farthing, Jiney Grey, and Peter Farthing, share and share alike equal."

So who is my Richard Edward Farthing's father?  Not Richard Farthing from Tennessee.  Richard from Tennessee divides all of his property between "all of my children sons and daughters." Richard E. wasn't listed anywhere in his will.  Some might ask, was Richard E. alive at the time this will was written?  Yes, he died in 1894 and is buried in Mississippi, so if he had been a child of this man, he would have been listed in the will.
Armed with this information, I was still a little hesitant to change anything because well there are A LOT of people who believe this information and have linked their families to the Richard Farthing family of Tennessee. I decided that before I create a family tree frenzy I should probably find another solid source of information. That's generally my rule. I like to provide two sources of documentation before I make any moves within my family tree.

I did a quick query of Richard E. Farthing and discovered that he applied for a war pension in 1892.  His pension indicated that he served in the Indian Wars fought during the late 1830's and early 1840's.  I decided to dig even further and I found his enlistment papers.  Sure enough he signed up for service in Baltimore, Maryland.  He listed his birth place as Jame City County, Virginia.  The Richard Farthing from Tennessee and supposedly my Richard Farthing were said to be born in Pittsylvania, Virginia. Richard Farthing from Tennessee was born in Pittsylvania, Virginia. There is solid proof to that statement.  My Richard Farthing, well he's from the James City County, Virginia Farthings and before you even think about how easy it's going be to find his parents. Think again.  James City County is a burned county.  The Civil War took care of a lot of their records.  All is not lost though but it will take a lot of digging to unearth the mysterious case of Richard E. Farthing.

I share this story not to bore you because really it's pretty exciting stuff but to point out that while we think our genealogy is correct sometimes it's not and maybe we should dig deeper to find out more. As I've researched Richard E. Farthing, I've found out that he was a very interesting person and lived an amazing life. The time I've spent researching this man has been worth it. He did amazing things with his life and not only do I get to learn from him but I get to share this information and hopefully help other family members in their quest to find out more about him.