You’re neither right or wrong because people agree with you. You’re right because your facts and your reasoning are right. Warren Buffett
If this statement resonates with you, you might enjoy Tap Dancing to Work: Warren Buffett on Practically Everything, 1966-2012. edited by Carol Loomis. A Fortune Magazine Book, 2012.
Research wisdom could guide us all in our pursuit of the right ancestors–those hard-to-find people who always seem to be found in in the Unattached Ancestors section of the latest family histories. Or “left over ancestors” when you get through matching the marriages to the census entries.
Actually I call these guys Hidden Ancestors because they don’t appear obvious in the records being searched. Oh, their names are there in the sources all right. They appear only after careful study and analysis. When you seem to have too many Johns or one extra James you simply cannot account for.
My advice: Study these extra people who carry the same surnames as everyone else. Account for them on an annual basis; or six months if your records allow for it. Watch carefully what they are doing when. And where you find them. In the same cemetery? Listed in the militia roll? Serving as a witness on a deed or a will? Posting a voter’s poll for the same candidate?
Two Johns are usually real and not a mistake of the compiler. Account for them all, your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle http://arleneeakle.com
PS Ribs healing, lawn burning up–at least its mowed.