Do I have enough?

Question

I'm lookng for a lady....her name is Marion Burton.  She was born 28 Nov 1773 in Boston, Massachusetts

I have found a lady, her name is Marion Burton She was born 28 Nov 1773 in Massachusetts.  She is in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Do I have enough evidence to say that these two ladys are the same person.?  OK I put the two children up.  Marion Burton is Burton-5317  Her brother William Burton is Burton-5318.

The one in Philadelphia is in a death record. she is 89 years old.  and single.She does not appear in the 1850 and 1860 census of either Pennsylvania or Massachusetts.  I have not put it up on a tree yet because I'm still researching her.  Her parents were separated from their children at a young age.  But they did have relatives in the Massachusetts area they could stay with.   She has a brother who was also born in Boston, Massachusetts.  I'm llooking for him too. I believe he married and moved to Maine but that is not confirmed yet.  The only records I have on these two children is their birth record.

Answer 1

The burial record for Marion says she was born in Boston and single. Src: Historic Pennsylvania Church and Town Records. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Link at Ancestry if you have access 

I put birth information on the profile, I can email you the whole article from Penn Gen. Mag. Send me a private message with your email. It looks as though the family went to New York. So from there to Philadelphia is not a big move.

Comments

Well, the page shown  is consistant with the birth date given, but it doesn't spefically (as far as I can tel) give her gender, her maritial status or her exact age.  Now Marion back then may have been solely a woman's name, but at the present time it's at least sometimes used as a man's name. (e.g. Marion Berry of Washington DC) Some of the women on the page are clearly indicated as married (or widowed) but I'm not certain that those who don't have Mrs. can be assumed to be maiden names.  Finally we just have the age at death which is a lot different than having an exact birth date.

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All your answers were a great help Thanks everyone.  

David

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Dave D, you're right it doesn't say she was single on the burial information. It says she is female and single on the death index.

Answer 2

Have you established how many people share that name and birthdate? It does not seem to be a name that is too common, so the search may be short and sweet.

If you can not find anyone else that is similar, then I would say yes the documents refer to the same person.  You can maintain that position with further documentation; or, until you find a source that shows otherwise.

If you had links to the sources, others may be able to take a look.

Answer 3

The only problem with this sort of identical birthdays is that they either are a match, or someone had the date and someone else with in incomplete or nonexistent date and assumed they were the same.  So where exactly did the two birthdays come from?  if both are from official documents, you may be fine.  But if one of them is from, say, an unofficial source you have to be careful.  When I'm working of a family, and come across such situations I put a note on the person / profile saying, "I am assuming thus and so.  I will change things if needed.