Research Tip:
It’s very important to look at each item of information
thoroughly – at some point - and to:
- decide how accurate the information is;
- see if the information leads to additional
sources;
When we find a bit of family information we’ve been
looking for, we often take it at face value, don’t question it and accept it as
it is.
We look for an ancestor that lived in a particular place
in approximately a particular time. We
find a person, in that place, in that time with that name and almost always assume
that we’ve found the person we’re looking for. And, maybe we did -- and, maybe we didn't
But, after years of research, one finds that in any
particular period of time, there are often many, many people with the same
name, living near enough, and close enough in time, to possibly be the person
we’re looking for. It’s a mistake to
accept one piece of information as valid and correct without looking at it more
closely and without looking for corroborating documentation.
In addition, it’s a hard lesson to learn but many records, even original documents,
have errors. People can be forgetful;
people can be careless. Just because it's an official document doesn't make it correct.
I’ve had a variety of disagreements with other researchers of
my various families over particular bits of information but, most seriously, about the parentage of one particular individual or another. If people are not careful about the information they accept as correct; if they share that erroneous information with others, soon the amount of misinformation has multiplied making it more and more difficult to find the correct data.
I hope the following analysis of the indicated record
will show how I go about determining if the information in any particular
record or document is valid and how it leads me to additional research:
Analysis of the
Charles DOUGHERTY entry in Presidents, Soldiers, Statesmen Vol. II,
Hardesty, Publishers, 1896.
A work in progress
“Son of the late Gilbert and Mary (GARRISON) DOUGHERTY,
was born at Shandaken, Ulster Co., N.Y., Sept. 16, 1843, and was a farmer,
residing at Ashland, Greene county, when he enlisted in Brooklyn, N.Y., Feb.
27, 1865, as a private in Co. I, 80th N.Y. Vol. Inf. His enlistment was too late for him to see
much active service, but after the close of the war, he was on provost guard
duty at Suffolk, N.C., where he remained until near the time of his discharge,
which was received at Hart’s Island, N.Y., Feb. 20, 1866. Mr. DOUGHERTY married at Ashland, Sept. 17,
1863, Frances Victoria OLIVER, daughter of Ezra and Esther (CRANDALL) OLIVER,
both deceased. They have had seven
children – Albert, William, Joseph J., Lewis, Josephine, Lizzie May and Harper
R. Mr. DOUGHERTY had five brothers in
the service; Henry, William, James and John in Infantry Regts., and Romaine in
the Cavalry. Mrs. DOUGHERTY’s brother,
Alanson OLIVER, died at Hart’s Island; her grandfather, Elnathan CRANDALL, was
a Revolutionary soldier, and her uncle, William OLIVER, served in the Florida
War. Mr. DOUGHERTY’s grandfather,
Garrison DOUIGHERTY, was also a Revolutionary soldier. He is a pensioner and a member of Martin
Hallett Post, 462, G.A.R., Dept. of New York.
His occupation is that of a farmer and his post office address is
Hedgesville, Steuben co., N.Y.”
- “[Charles was born, son of Gilbert Dougherty and
Mary Garrison,] Shandaken, Sept. 16, 1843.”
The 1850 US Census, Ulster Co., Shandaken: (Sept. 26th)
indicates a slight error in the above record; calculating that Charles had been
born 6 years before Sept. 26, 1850, he would have been born in 1844. The date of the census, Sept. 26, was 10 days
after the previous record’s proposed birthdate.
He would have been 5, on Sept. 16, 1850.
Gilbert,
46, farmer
Mary, 46
William,
23
Henry,
21
Sarah
A., 19
John, 17
James,
15
Elizabeth,
13
Malissa,
11
Romeyn,
8
Charles,
6
Mary, 3
Sybil, 1
The following military record indicates the same birth year.
- “…residing at Ashland, Greene county, when he
enlisted in Brooklyn, N.Y., Feb. 27, 1865, as a private in Co. I, 80th
N.Y., Vol. Inf.”
Verified by (except residence is incorrect in above
entry)
New York, Town Clerks' Registers of Men Who Served in
the Civil War, ca 1861-1865, 39-40 as seen at Ancestry.com: (this is a transcription)
Line 6
Dougherty, Charles Wesley
Residence:
Shandaken, Ulster Co.
Born Sept. 16, 1844, Shandaken, NY
Enlisted as Pvt, 13th Artillery, enlisted Feb.
1865, mustered in ? 1865, for 1 year in NYC. White, no relief granted,
married. Laborer, father: Gilbert DOUGHERTY, mother Mary GARRISON,
Transferred to Co. I, 20th NYSM Infantry. Still in service at point of this entry.
Also, in this source and record are the registrations of
Charles’ brothers: Henry, James, John,
William and (interestingly) Elbert
Romayne; all of whom registered at different times. This record doesn’t show the exact date of
enlistment, nor the Co. There is some discrepancy
between the 2 records in terms of enlistment date, regiment and Co. Comparing the letter of the company with
other capital letters on the page, I did change my first impression from Co. J
to Co. I, which brings me into agreement with the other record. Again, comparing the # of the regiment to
which he was transferred to other numbers on the page, I disagree with the
other record that indicates it as 80th NY Vol. Infantry; none of the
8s on the page look similar and, while a bit too elaborate, it is a 2 and the
regiment is the 20th. In this
record, the regiment is indicated as the 20th NYSM. After much discussion online about the significance
of the M and after visiting the regimental page of The
New York State Military Museum, The agreement is that the M signifies
Militia or Volunteer; therefore, in agreement with the other record.
Qualifying these investigations with the caveat that many documents contain one, if not
multiple errors; it is therefore, important to find as many documents as
possible to try to reach matching information which might be more trusted.
- “His enlistment was too late for him to see much
active service, but after the close of the war, he was on provost guard duty at
Suffolk, N.C., where he remained until near the time of his discharge, which
was received at Hart’s Island, N.Y., Feb. 20, 1866.”
I have no records, so far, to address Charles’ service as
provost guard or his assignment to Suffolk, N.C. I might find additional records, in the
future, that verify this. He was still
in service at the date of the previous record so there is no discharge
information in that record.
- “Mr. DOUGHERTY married at Ashland, Sept. 17,
1863, Frances Victoria OLIVER, daughter of Ezra and Esther (CRANDALL) OLIVER,
both deceased.”
The corroboration for the marriage date, so far, is from a
family member and from apparent agreement in census records. Family information and census records also
seem to verify Frances OLIVERs parentage, although until receiving this record,
we had no idea of Esther’s maiden name which has since been verified by several
additional sources.
- “They (Charles and Frances) have had seven
children – Albert, William, Joseph J., Lewis, Josephine, Lizzie May and Harper
R.”
The children are verified by several census records with
the addition of John and George.
- “Mr. DOUGHERTY had five brothers in the service;
Henry, William, James and John in Infantry Regts., and Romaine in the Cavalry.”
This information is verified by similar records in the
above source: New York, Town Clerks'
Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865, with one
interesting addition, Romayne’s record indicates that his name was Elbert Romayne.
- “Mrs. DOUGHERTY’s (Frances Victoria OLIVER) brother,
Alanson OLIVER, died at Hart’s Island; her grandfather, Elnathan CRANDALL, was
a Revolutionary soldier, and her uncle, William OLIVER, served in the Florida
War.”
There’s a great deal of data in this sentence:
The first error is Alanson OLIVER’s place of death. Military records, in my possession, indicate
that Alanson died, Feb. 1, 1865, St. John’s Hospital, Annapolis, MD. He did serve in the military.
On receipt of the entry of Charles DOUGHERTY in Presidents,
Soldiers, Statesmen, I began looking for Elnathan CRANDALL who, as Frances' grandfather, would have been her mother's brother. Initially, I found nothing. Then, I found several individuals with the same name. The first Elnathan CRANDALL I encountered
could not have been Frances OLIVER’s grandfather because he was born within a
year or two of her mother and might have been a brother or cousin of her
mother, Esther. I have not yet
identified the possible Elnathan, nor have I found an Elnathan CRANDALL in the
Revolution. More work is needed before
accepting this piece of information, that he was Esther/Hester CRANDALL’s
father.
On first reading and several subsequent readings of the
entry, I assumed that William OLIVER was Frances OLIVER’s brother and clearly
hadn’t read closely enough. There are 4
William OLIVERs in the family tree, so far.
She didn’t have a brother named William.
The entry indicates he was her uncle.
For him to be her uncle, he had to have been her father’s brother. Therefore, I have to assume that Ezra OLIVER,
her father, had to have had a brother, William.
Since we don’t know Ezra OLIVER’s parentage, we also don’t know William’s. However, If William served in the military,
there may be a record which gives the names of his parents, and, therefore,
Ezra’s. This will extend the OLIVER
family tree another generation and, perhaps, reveal more. It may also be possible to find a William
OLIVER living near Ezra OLIVER on one or more of the censuses; I haven’t
checked yet.
It says William OLIVER served in the Florida War; there
were several. It will be necessary to
figure out which one.
I’m not currently interested in the rest of the entry
since I’m related to Charles DOUGHERTY only through his marriage to Frances
Victoria OLIVER. Sometimes, it’s
important and even necessary to research the families of in-laws in order to
discover more about the target family. I
don’t expect that to be the case in this instance.
, Syracuse University Press, 2005.
