PA-OLD-CHESTER-L Archives

From: "Sandra Ferguson" <>
Subject: Re: [PaOldC] "in laws"
Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2007 10:27:36 -0400
References: <67b861180704081357x7e7a4f41h418a8e156c882401@mail.gmail.com><5af501c77aa4$6325df00$c66c0cd8@sandabspkoh6u6><001701c77aaf$da8bd0d0$2f01a8c0@Natalie>

Stop struggling.....a brother in law is the same sort of thing, so start
figuring all the male family members that could be considered
brothers-in-law.....of course, the husbands of a person's sisters....but,
have you considered the brothers of a person's wife? Those gents would be
brother's in law also....and there are other possibles.....the husband of a
man's wife's sister may also be a brother in law.......... Thinking of these
folks ONLY in the light of today's usage can get you into a WORLD of hurt!!!
In my family research, the wife of one of my ancestors was always
referred to as Bridget STONE, but I could never find her as the child of
someone named Stone, or any documentation for believing her to have had the
maidenname of Stone..however, the name was found in many books I read
(leading us into another discussion of the fallacy of believing that if
someone appears multiple times in multiple books, it MUST be true....WRONG.)
Anyway, I traced the reason for her being thought to be a Stone, to the fact
that Gov. Stone, of Md, referred to my ancestor as his 'brother in
law'...people read that quote and took off running....Bridget MUST be a
Stone, the sister of Gov. Stone ......and, no one took it any further.
However, I did some research on the Stone family, a well documented one, and
there was NO sister Bridget. Then, I found her....Bridget was the sister of
Gov. Stone's wife......and considered Gov. Smith's "sister in law"......and
her husband was his 'brother in law'!
I also have an early VA family will....1672...in which my ancestor makes
provision and plans for his 'daughter inlaw'...this stymied me for quite a
while as I knew his children were just that - children. Then, with further
research I found that Jane had been 'taken in' by my ancestor, when her
parents died, and thus became his "daughter in law''!
I think these things bring up the tremendous importance of doing research
about the timeframe you are interested in. If you simply pluck names and
dates, not only do you miss the interesting aspects of your family, but you
also may miss important clues....like these. Research is synonymous with
READ, READ, READ.....anything and everything you can find....it will serve
you well.!

Sandra


". I have been struggling with a will that names someone as
"brother-in-law."

This thread:

• [PaOldC] Jones - Arthur - Hoskins by "James Hoskins" <>
  • [PaOldC] "in laws" by "Sandra Ferguson" <>