The spring issue of New England Ancestors brings us Eben W. Graves, author of The Descendants of Henry Sewall, 1576-1656, writing about how researchers on two coasts and two continents put together John J. Sewall of Barry, Pike County, Illinois, and John Jenks Sewall of Bath, Sagadahoc County, Maine.
I think it's fair to say that while the internet made the process of assembling evidence much faster, it didn't change the logic of the conclusion that they were the same person. The names being the same was only the beginning. Several different records showed convergences, including a long-lost letter from 1896 -- but records being what they are, the resemblances between the two men were not perfect.
I think the conclusion is valid, but the evidence mentioned is all positive -- did anyone in the crew try to disprove the hypothesis by looking for John Jenks Sewall dying young, or living in Maine at the same time John J. Sewall was in Illinois?
Monday, June 1, 2009
Methodology Monday in Maine and Illinois
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2 comments:
Harold asks a very good question.
The answer is that nobody made an explicit search for negative evidence for the convergence of John J. Sewall of Pike Co., Ill., and John Jenks Sewall of Sagadahoc Co., Maine.
Nevertheless, negative evidence has not been found in the course of research for either the published volume [Descendants of Henry Sewall, 528 pp. (Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2007)] or the forthcoming volume [currently 650 pages] of the Sewall genealogy. Likely candidates are not found in the author's list of Sewall strays in and from New England; no death record has been found; and no gravestone inscription has been found. Of course the man from Maine could have moved to, married and died in some location that the author has not examined in his Sewall research, either in Maine (quite a few) or elsewhere in the country (zillions), but that fact is, negative evidence has not been found in the likley places.
Best wishes,
Harold asks a very good question.
The answer is that an explicit search for negative evidence against the convergence of John Jenks Sewall of Sagadhoc Co., Maine, and John J. Sewall of Pike Co., Ill.
Nevertheless, negative evidence has not been found in the author's research for the initial published Sewall genealogy (528 pp., Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2007) or the forthcoming volume (currently 650 pp.). No death record; no marriage record; no children; no gravestone; and no likely candidate in the author's list of Sewall strays in and from New England. Of course the man from Maine could have moved to a location not examined by the author, either in Maine (many) or elsewhere (zillions!), but the fact remains that no negative evidence has been found in likely places.
Best wishes,
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