Need help with two people of the same name

Question

This is in regards to Miner-3985, who I added during my research, and Miner-3371. It's difficult to tell if this is the same person or different people. I would love if someone was willing to help me figure this out. I

Miner-3985 is Rebecca (Miner) Smith who married Hezekiah Smith in 14 Oct 1787 in Connecticut. Her father supposedly is Turner Miner.

Miner-3371 is Rebecca (Miner) Manierre who married Louise Maneirre. Her parents are supposedly Turner Miner and Rebecca Moore.

I did some digging, and The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records lists a Rebeckah, daughter of Turner (Miner) and Rebeckah. It also lists a Rebecca who married Louise Maneirre. Does that mean they are two different people?

There is also A genealogical history of the descendants of the Rev Nehemiah Smith of New London County which shows Hezekiah Smith as marrying Rebecca Turner Miner. It shows she passed away 23 Apr 1833.

These sources suggests they are two different people and that the wrong person may be attached to Miner-2870 with Miner-3985's birth and death date, but I hesitate to make such a judgement call based on just a couple sources, especially for colonial ancestors.

Thank you!

Answer 1

I have added the marriage for Rebecca Miner to Louis Maneirre (she would have been about 13!) so not sure if she was born earlier but the age on the gravestone stated 63 - which corresponds with1766. They both have different death dates so likely different people (but like you I cant tell for sure) is one more of a memorial? but the children listed on Find a grave (if correct) list a couple born after the other Rebecca married Hezekiah Smith.

Comments

I did notice that the children are completely different.. I arrived here from researching my line through her son Nehemiah Smith (Smith-337006). I have to wonder how credible the info from findagrave is since there is no source for her bio. It mentions the Barbour collection, but as I mentioned, there are two rebeccas and I wonder if genealogists are combining the two! Maybe it could explain why it appears she was only 13 when she got married. With 1766 as the birth year, Rebecca Smith would have been 21 when she married Hezekiah.

Answer 2

I would agree that they are different people.

Daisy Craigie 321

Answer 3

The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records lists a Rebeckah, daughter of Turner (Miner) and Rebeckah. It also lists a Rebecca who married Louise Maneirre. Does that mean they are two different people?

No, it does not mean that. It means there is a birth record and there is a marriage record. They may or may not be for the same person. The records might have additional information in them or you can do additional research to determine whether they are or are not the same person.

There is also A genealogical history of the descendants of the Rev Nehemiah Smith of New London County which shows Hezekiah Smith as marrying Rebecca Turner Miner. It shows she passed away 23 Apr 1833.

Just because an old book (the older equivalent of today's "internet trees") "shows" something, doesn't mean it's correct. What sources did the book use to support that claim? If there are sources cited in the book, you can go look at them for yourself. If there are no sources cited, then you know that it may not be very reliable.

These could be the same woman who married two different people. They could be second cousins who both have a father named Turner. Someone could have confused them and mistakenly claimed the second was is also a daughter of Turner Miner, but she isn't. There's still a lot there to investigate.