Onesiphorus

I received a genealogy query the other day that demonstrates a few of my common research processes, so I thought I'd share. Someone had writtten to me eight years ago to provide a clue regarding the descendants of Onesiphorus and Patience (Dow) Page and their daughter Sarah, who married Sanders Carr. The recent query sought original source information from the person who wrote to me years ago.

Many people do genealogy research as part of a family project, often surrounding a death or as a legacy in anticipation of their own eventual demise. An eight year old email query often involves a change in email address, at least. In this case, the researcher seems to have done a number of searches in the 1998-2000 period and stopped. Maybe the copy of the email query sent to that old address will get through, but odds are against it.

So the next best thing is to see if the information provided has some level of quality and makes sense, what they call asset vetting in intelligence work. I quickly found a website with a listing of Salisbury, Massachusetts marriages, including that of Onesiphorus Page to Patience Dow. I also found a genealogy with obvious descendants of Onesiphorus Page and his supposed son-in-law, Sanders Carr:

6-Onesiphorus Page Maxfield (18 May 1808-4 Sep 1874)
sp: Abigail Hurd Cutts (22 Jul 1809-21 Jan 1896)

* 7-Sanders Carr Maxfield (26 Dec 1830-20 Oct 1834)

As long as there aren't a ton of spelling variations, an old name like Onesiphorus can really help narrow your searches. (The census enumerators had a field day with Barzillai Carr's first name!)

While cultures vary, parents may use the surnames or even full names of paternal or maternal ancestors as their children's names, especially if the ancestors were prominent figures in the community. They also may name the first boy and girl after themselves. So don't ignore the obvious clue in a person's name when you are trying to go back a generation or two in the family roots.