#196 So Many John Hannahs

This week’s theme is mistakes.  Errors are easy to make in genealogy, particularly when you do not have a lot of information or when a number of people have the same name.

I have 11 John Hannah’s in my tree.  I also have several with a different first name, but John as their middle name, e.g. John Hannah Turner. In some way or another they are all related, often lived in the same area and farmed.  The ones I am most interested in are John M. Hannah and John Wesley Hannah, my great great and great grandfathers.

It was easy for me to mix them up.  So I had to come up with ways to separate them. 

John Wesley Hannah with his daughters, Tim and Toots

One way to keep them straight is to use their middle names, if they have them.  So John Gates Hannah, John Gray Lawrence Hannah,  and John Bayard Hannah are easy to keep straight as long as they are referred to  with their middle names.  If not, dates of birth can distinguish them.  The dates of birth range from 1799 (John M. Hannah) to John Clifford Hannah (1919).  Location also helps.  The earlier John Hannahs tended to live in Brown County, Ohio or Edgar County, Illinois.  As time passed, some moved to places like Missouri or Colorado.  So if a John Hannah turns up in California, I will check him out, but can be pretty sure he is not one of mine.

The lesson I learned from all these John Hannah’s is be careful and check to make sure you have the correct one.