My Irish side only goes back to the late 1700s/early 1800s, but I’ve been able to trace the German and English sides back a bit further than that. The problem, especially with the Irish side, is that names keep being reused, so I’ll have Robert James had a son named Robert, who had a son name James, who had a son named Robert James. It just gets really confusing.
It’s even worse when there’s another Robert James in the next village who married their village’s Mary Smith and all their 10 kids are also named any possible combination of these 4 names.
And you only realise it because one Mary Smith can’t have 2 Robert James (Jr.) a month apart.
My Irish side only goes back to the late 1700s/early 1800s, but I’ve been able to trace the German and English sides back a bit further than that. The problem, especially with the Irish side, is that names keep being reused, so I’ll have Robert James had a son named Robert, who had a son name James, who had a son named Robert James. It just gets really confusing.
It’s even worse when there’s another Robert James in the next village who married their village’s Mary Smith and all their 10 kids are also named any possible combination of these 4 names.
And you only realise it because one Mary Smith can’t have 2 Robert James (Jr.) a month apart.
Yup! Also, my last name was spelled differently and was apparently pretty common, so that makes it even more confusing.