Sheriff William Preston's identity crisis (2.01 of 3)

Mistaken identities and relationships often lead to improper genealogy links and brick walls. The series, "Sheriff William Preston's identity crisis," explains how a group of researchers ultimately collaborated to better identify William Preston, and how that reformed identification led the group to his ancestral family.


Part 1-No shortage of inconsistencies, 10 June 2011
A collection of inconsistent information written about about William Preston, the first sheriff of Williams County, Ohio.

Part 2-Driven to a more historical account (8 10 postings), 16 June 2011
Genealogy is a journey. The second article in this series (in eight separate postings) presents particular information we used to break down the brick wall. The various postings mention how the records were discovered, questioned and evaluated to better identify Sheriff William Preston.
2.01 William and his Miss Butler (marriage)
2.02 He survives (census)
2.03 The Butler did it! (identifying our Butler family)
2.04 I do declare, and he did! (declaration)
2.05 Death plus 30 (probate)
2.06 Of brothers and soldiers (about John Preston)
2.07 You do the math (about William C. Preston and the King)
2.08 One good deed (and the long road home)
2.09 Through the peep hole (the larger family)
2.10 Rummaging about Rumney

Part 3-Putting it all together - Part 3A

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PART 2-Driven to a more historical account

2.01 William and his Miss Butler

Historical accounts report William Preston married a "Miss Butler, whose brothers lived about eight miles below on the Maumee." [History of Defiance County (1883), p. 157] They probably married before Mrs. Hill "lived with the Prestons" at the old fort during the year 1821-1822. [History of Defiance County (1883), p. 261] Family tradition written by William's children and/or records about them call the mother "Asenath Butler."

As early as the 1960s, family members had searched about Williams and Defiance counties for a record of William's marriage. In the late 1990s, our collaborative group broadened the search and found what seemed the right record indexed among the marriages of Wood County, Ohio.

As with many documents presented in this article, we learned more by researching beyond "just the facts." We discovered direct and indirect clues that helped us confirm this record was about our ancestors' marriage and learned more about them in the process.

  

What clues would you have found? 

Hints. This marriage (a) recorded six months after the fact; (b) found in Wood County books; (c) among the very first marriages recorded Wood (page 2 of book 1); (d) she is reported "Miss ... Butler," married by (d) John Perkins, J.P. Preceding entry (e) recorded on the same date is Billair-?Gorden, married by (f) William Preston, J.P. carries dateline "[(g)] Defiance, [(h)] November 22nd ..." See also Slocum, History of the Maumee River Basin ... , p. 528.

[For this graphic, we pulled a nice, clean image from FamilySearch. The entry had been indexed as "William Mr. Preston" and "Asseneth Miss Butler." Sigh.]

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