The Huggins line--a summation

In one of the first posts on this blog I briefly discussed methodology.  I talked about what we call "Spot it, got it" genealogy.  For those interested, I refer them back to that post for all the details....

The story:  I'm sure it happened something like this.  At some point, years ago, someone researching the line of Jacob Huggins from Orange Co NC noticed a wedding record in Onslow Co NC.  It was for a Jacob Huggins and the year was 1790.  The person thought:
1) "Hey!  This is at pretty much the right time"
2) "This is in the same state of North Carolina" (albeit almost 200 miles away)
3) "And, this guy has the very same name!"
4) "This must be our guy!"

And so this person then puts it on their webpage... or their online tree...or in a genweb posting.  Over the next few years, person after person takes this as 'gospel' and puts it on their own tree...or webpage.  Several years later, this is now the 'accepted' line.  People see it in writing and think "It must be true."  And that's that.

Except for one thing:  The actual amount of proof sums up to this:
1) They had the same name
2)  They lived in roughly the same time period
3) They came from the same state (but we won't mention the two locations were almost 200 miles apart...).

That's it.  There are no documents offered in support. No actual proof at all.  It just comes down to the fact that someone spotted a guy who had the same name....and then jumped to a conclusion.

This sort of thing has been a pox upon so many lines I've researched.  It's something to always keep in mind and watch for.
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1a)  The Jacob Huggins of Orange Co (father of Jacob Douglas Huggins, Jr) was in Orange Co by at least 1788 and owned 100 acres--as I have shown in a previous posting of the Orange Co tax list.
1b) The Jacob Huggins who was the son of Jacob and Frances Cooper Huggins was in Onslow Co helping to settle his father's estate in 1790.

2.  The Jacob Huggins of Onslow then went on to buy land in that county in all the years I've mentioned previously.  The image of the original from the Onslow deed book in 1800 in that posting shows this Jacob involved a transaction that is witnessed by his two brothers, Luke and Cooper Huggins (seen in the bottom left of the second page).  This links this Jacob Huggins fully with the other off-spring of Jacob and Frances (these sons' names are all noted in Jacob Sr's will from 1790). There can be little doubt that this is their son, Jacob Jr.  The deed also refers to him as "Jacob Huggins of Onslow County...."

3a)  Every document involving Jacob Huggins of Orange Co is signed by a mark--indicating that the was illiterate.
3b)  Every document involving Jacob Huggins of Onslow Co is fully signed.  This man was literate.

4) This one is easy and fun.  Go to Ancestry and bring up the 1790 census.  For the name, type in "Jacob Huggins."  For the location, simply put "North Carolina.
   You will get two top hits:  A Jacob Huggins in Orange Co and one in Onslow.

   Now do the same with the 1800 census:  The top two hits:

    One in Wilmington, Onslow, NC
    One in Hillsborough, Orange, NC

  Repeat with 1810:

    One in Onslow, NC
    One in Hillsborough, Orange, NC

  It's a wonderful, graphic depiction that these are not the same men.  And there's a message in this as well...  Had the person who first 'spotted' the marriage bond of a Jacob Huggins in Onslow Co taken just a few minutes to check the most basic thing of all in genealogy--the Census-- they would have found out right away that these weren't the same guys....

So, the evidence is overwhelming that the Jacob Huggins in Orange Co was not the Jacob Huggins who was the son of Jacob and Frances Cooper Huggins in Onslow Co.
  The only evidence in support of them being the same person is that they shared the same name.
   If someone out there wants to provide a document that says otherwise, I'm wide open and would love to see it. Please share it with us....

But what about DNA results, I hear you say. :)  Sadly, it's late and I'll have to deal with that another time.
                                                                                           <Kevin>