"Thump!" crumble... crumble...
I knocked another brick off the Davis brick wall. I had written about how I couldn't get past my great-great-great-grandfather, William H. Davis. I found a tree on Ancestry.com which had the name Ferris G. Davis. William had a son named Ferris who was a younger brother to my g-great-grandfather, Daniel. I sent the owner of this tree a message because the tree is private and I couldn't see it. I asked if his Ferris G. Davis had a brother named William. William's son Ferris was born in 1863 but this other Ferris was born in 1841 according to the Civil War records I found. I thought it might be possible that William H. Davis named one of his sons after his brother.
Last night I logged into Ancestry.com before going to bed and found a message waiting for me. I was right !!! The Ferris G. Davis born in 1841 had a brother named William H. Davis. The owner of that private tree wrote that William was born in 1833. What ? ? ? All the census records show abt. 1832. Okay, well... if the censuses state 'abt' 1832, I guess his year of birth could be 1833 but David Davis, another brother who was listed in the Civil War records has his year of birth listed as 1833.
Well, at least I now have William's parents names thanks to the Civil War records. I've gone back one more generation. I'm hoping to hear back from the owner of that private Davis family tree on Ancestry.com to learn more about my Davis ancestors.
Woohoo! Good for you! I don't take birth years too seriously. If they're off by 10 years or so, I then assume they're not the same person. But when your ancestors age 9 or 11 years between census, you can figure the census taker came before a birthday (or after, whichever way you're looking it).
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