52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Same Name

This post is part of Amy Johnson Crow's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks for 2018. The prompt for the week of June 18, 2018, is Same Name.

I wrote a post several years ago for a blog challenge by Lisa Alzo about namesakes. I had fun tracing as far back as I could go with my first and middle names: Fearless Females March 3 - Namesake. 

I'm sure every genealogist has had the "fun" of tracing people only to find one, two, or more with the same name. We have to dig through all the clues to figure out which one is "our" ancestor. I have several examples: Albert Redles, George Albert Redles (my maternal great grandfather), and George Redles; they're all related but only one is my direct ancestor. There are several William Limings (my maternal 2nd great grandfather) in my tree. 

The Lawsons are another bunch that are hard to trace (Hugh, Hugh, and Hugh; Roger, Roger, etc.), as well as the Knights (John, John, and Jonathan). And what about the Browns, Cooks, and Joneses? You can't get any more of a common last name than these. (Well, Smith, but you know what I mean). 

While looking for Sarah Finney, who may have been the mother of my great grandmother Hattie Finney, I happily downloaded a ton of files from ancestry.com, only to figure out they were all for the "wrong" Sarah Finney. 

I've tried to find the origins in Scotland of my maternal 5th great grandfather, Daniel MacIntyre, but there are so many Daniel MacIntyres in ancestry.com's online records that I have no idea which one. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the drift about the problem with the same names!

Catherine