Re: Sarah Condray? John and Elizabeth Condray?
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In reply to:
Re: Sarah Condray? John and Elizabeth Condray?
Heather Callahan 3/18/02
No, I don't have evidence that the Sarah mentioned in the estate records is the same, or is not the same. I know of several other cases where people we once thought to be the same turned out to be two different people with very similar names, places, etc. We have, for example, two Dennis Condry/Condrays born 1820-1821 who appear during the same period in the Indian Territory after the Civil War. At first I thought they were the same, but further evidence, such as marriages, made it clear that they were different men, one from Grainger Co., TN, the other from IL. We have two William H.'s whose birth years are close and who lived in the same area of Claiborne Co., TN at the same time, and even appear to have shared a name pool for their children. And we have other cases in which people thought to be different turned out to be the same.
But I don't know of a case where two people of the same name. e.g. Sarah, both married men from the same family. That's why it will be interesting to see the evidence that shows we have two Sarahs who married Boydstuns and have different parents.
About the spelling of the names: during the period we are speaking of, 1750-1850, there are so many variant spellings in the records that there is no valid conclusion you can draw about identity from the spelling alone. Condry/Condra/Condray/Condrey/Condreay/Condre/ etc. are the same name during that period, and the spelling is dependent upon the person writing the record, not the person being referred to. My 2ggparents Lilburn and Harriet, for example--they appear as Condre, Condrey, Candray, Condray, and Conder in census records 1840-1870 and in military records. Even when the people in question were literate, there was no guarantee of spelling. When Lilburn and his brothers and sisters all signed a document on the same day, there were three different spellings among them.