Making Connections Between Different Records

[lastdiplomat]

I have a question for the more seasoned researchers regarding how they decide when they have enough circumstantial evidence to connect one record to another.

Here's an example to explain what I mean:

I have a couple named Manuel de Aguiar and Antonia Clara from Ajuda da Bretanha who appear in several baptism records from 1736-1743. No couple with these exact names appear in the Bretanha marriage records, but there is a Manuel de Sousa Aguiar and Antonia de Viveiros who were married in 1735. This couple never appears in any later Bretanha baptism records, but when I look at the baptism records for the first couple, many of their children have godparents who are related to the parents of Antonia de Viveiros from the 1735 marriage.

Would this godparent connection be enough to make other researchers comfortable with connecting these baptism records to this marriage record? Or would you want to find something additional to confirm things? Personally, I feel like there's a pretty good chance that these are indeed the same people, but there's always part of my brain that thinks I could be wrong and may be messing up my family tree for generations.

[Philippe GARNIER]

Hi,

I think it's enough. Frequently, the surname (Aguiar, Aguiar de Sousa) or first name (Antonia Clara, Antonia de Viveiros) are evolutive. 

To confirm definitevely you can search :

- in the the family of Manoel if exist a parent (father, uncle, grandfather) named de Sousa.

- in the family of Antonia if exist an ascendant named Viveiros.

Best regards.

Philippe Garnier

Paris- France

https://philippegarnier112.wixsite.com/familiasilhaterceira/copie-de-familias-da-ilha-terceira

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[Nelson A]

Sometimes, I have had to use Godparents to verify records, especially when all the names are very similar or common. I love it especially with the ladies who add religious connotations to their names, ie. Maria do Coracao de Jesus which later is changed to something else such as Maria do Espirito Sancto. I know this when the parental names are unusual but the same except for the lady's name changed from Coracao to Espirito Sancto. Most of these finds are in the death record. A lot of the changes in the names are with women as they are only given a first name and religious name at birth. They don't necessarily get a surname(last) until they get married. It makes for a crazy journey going through the records. When I come across a record where all the information you have is the same except for one added name, I put that name in (Name) parenthesis. My mother had several names growing up. She was known as Laura d'Avila, Laura das Neves, Laura de Jesus. It is crazy.... Good luck. 

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[lastdiplomat]

Thank you for the replies. I think I lucked out with the couple's choice in godparents which helped confirm the connection. If they had just chosen family friends as their children's godparents, then I might never have been able to connect the baptism records to the marriage record. 

Interestingly, there is another couple named Manuel de Aguiar and Antonia de São Jose who were married in Bretanha about ten years later. I've found many trees online where people have conflated the two couples and mixed up records. It's understandable since, as you say Nelson, different variations of women's names can appear in records (not to mention just plain scribal errors), but you have to be very careful when it comes to connecting one record to another, which is why I'm always extra cautious.