I wrote last year about the importance of keeping a research log and my intention to keep one. I still think it’s important. Despite that, I’m still not really keeping one.
Oh, but I wish I were. My grandfather’s grandfather was George Washington Adams. I had accumulated a certain amount of information about him–and I’d recorded sources for everything. But now as I revisit him, I’m starting to doubt whether the military sources I found are necessarily for the right guy. And I think if I’d been keeping a good research log, I’d have perhaps written down why I was so certain that the George W. Adams from Company A, 35th Kentucky Infantry (Union), who ended up in the National Soldier’s Home for awhile in the 1920s and 1930s was my great great great grandfather. But looking at it now, I’m not so sure.
So I’m going to go back to all the data I’ve gathered for him and cast a critical eye on what I’ve found and make sure that I’ve got the right guy. And I’m going to carefully record my efforts and my reasoning for every fact. I’m not pledging to start keeping a research log for every bit of research I do (though I hope to at some point). I’m just pledging to do it for this one ancestor.
Once I figure out if I have the right guy, I’ll write here and let you know!
I have found that there are many people with the same name back in my family. Even books that have been written have confused 2 people with the same names and made them as one. Thank God for my researcher who is taking the time to check land records, church records, wills etc to make sure who is who….but what a fun process to come up with the answer to so many mysteries!!
How interesting, Kristen! I bet it is a fun process to play detective and solve those mysteries. That’s one of my favorite parts of family history research. Thanks so much for your comment!
I have this info on our mutual Grandfather George Washington Adasm’s Grandfather – George Washington Adams – Yes my Grandpa was named after our mutual one. And boy – that’s a sticky wicket.
SOURCE: Poplar Grove Cemetery Records
Military; Union Army – Civil War; (Co. D, 7th KY Vol. Calvary)
His tombstone does not have a death or a birth date on it so his dates come from family and military records.