The so-called “genealogy standard” is to use birth names for everyone, even in cultures where it doesn’t make sense. The “encylopedic standard” makes more sense. As a mental shorthand, I think of it as “best known as”. For example: Cokayne [formerly Adams], George Edward (1825–1911), genealogist, born at 64 Russell Square, London, on 29 April 1825,…
Maiden names and aliases
“In England, as well as in France and other continental nations, down to the seventeenth century, married women and widows not infrequently retained their maiden names, generally, however, with an alias ; and in certain parts of Scotland and Wales, such persons still sign by their maiden name in legal documents, even though described in them…
Toba Eruption
I don’t follow closely, but one of the truisms of human genetics has been the impact of the Toba Eruption. DNA studies seem to show modern humans are descended from a smaller than expected number of people. We seem to have lost some of the genetic diversity we would be expected to have. One possible…
Rachel (Roberson) Horne
Rachel Roberson has consumed a lot of my genealogical research time. She is supposed to have been Indian, or perhaps part Indian. I’ve wanted to find some answers but now years of research have given me so much information it seems almost impossible to say anything helpful. She was Rachel (Roberson) Horne (1847-1944), my grandmother’s…
Were They Pawnee?
According to a tradition current among some of my cousins, my great great grandmother Rachel (Roberson) Horne (1847-1944) was Pawnee. I don’t think so. Nothing else points in that direction. I asked my grandmother Evelyn (Horn) Miller one year at Powwow about our Indian ancestry. She said she had always assumed they were Pawnee. A…