Emily and Emma Chadwick: Are They the Same?

Question

An inscription on a tombstone shared with her parents in the Maplewood Cemetery in Boscawen, Merrimack, New Hampshire says:

"Emily Maria, daughter of Charles J. and Eliza J. Chadwick, died June 27, 1858, age 2 years, 6 months"

On the other hand, the 1860 US Census lists Emily Chadwick, age 1, living with Charles and Eliza in Boscawen. It is possible that the name was reused for a second child born in 1859 after the first died in 1858.

I have found no other records for Emily Chadwick. However, an Emma Chadwick of the same age appears in the 1870 and 1880 US Censuses as living in the same household as Charles Chadwick.

Several unsourced family trees (including mine) in Ancestry.com show Emily Chadwick, born December 26, 1855, died June 27, 1868. Since the tombstone says that she was two years old when she died in 1858, this is definitely wrong. 

My theory is that Charles and Eliza Chadwick named their baby girl, born in 1859, Emily at first, reusing the name of their deceased daughter, but then decided to name her Emma instead. This family was very unfortunate in that at least three of their children died in childhood. Maybe they thought that reusing the name was a bad idea after all. 

I have made Emily Chadwick and Emma Chadwick  Unmerged Matches. The question is whether there is enough evidence to merge them, or should I leave Emily alone and go with the dates on the tombstone and assume that Emma was the one born in 1859 that shows up in the Censuses?

Answer 1

Absolutely possible.  The number of times I have found this within the family tree.

This is more prominent if a family has originated from Scotland.

In my direct line in 1870 - a child was born and died within one year - about six months later the next child - identical name.  The second child is my great grandmother.  This is just one example.

Answer 2

Based on the indexed entries on Familysearch.org, there appears to be a birth on 07 Jul 1859 in Boscawen for an unnamed female born to Charles G. & Eliza G. Chadwick. Then another unnamed male born 11 Aug 1862, same location, same parents.
(Index cites LDS film #2,259,646, ''Records of births, marriages & deaths 1741-1919, Boscawen, NH)

Interestingly, the State index project [1859
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DT23-MKP?i=4307&wc=MJ7V-L29%3A1042626801%3Fcc%3D1542861&cc=15428618] & [1862 https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DT2Q-DBF?i=4333&wc=MJ7V-L29%3A1042626801%3Fcc%3D1542861&cc=1542861] supply a different mother's name: Clara J., but still no given name for the children. Seems like the original records should be viewed before final decisions are made.

My thought is that Emma is a nickname for Emily, or  they simply called her Emma later. I have an ancestor whose name was (various times in life) Temperance Emma, Emma, Tempie, etc.

Comments

I saw the entry for the Unknown Chadwick, female, born to Charles and Clara in Boscawen on July 7, 1859. Thank you for the reference. This seems very likely to have been Emily/Emma, even though the mother's name is wrong. The birth date corresponds to the date that came from the original GEDCOM file. Unless I hear some specific objection, I am going to change Emily Chadwick-1102 to born 1855/6, died June 27, 1858, and Emma Chadwick-1120, aka Emily, born July 7, 1859, death unknown, listed in 1860 (as Emily), 1870, and 1880 US Censuses living in Boscawen, New Hampshire.