Hi out there,

This is a request for someone to sort of look over mine and other's work and give some feedback and help me clarify my thinking, because my brain is muddied about the whole thing. It is quite long so I understand that it may be more than most people are motivated to look into, but I'm hoping someone who loves genealogy research, being meticulous, and has time on their hands might be inspired. So here we go.

According to one person on FamilySearch - and this seems validated by some of the records I've found - there were two Borst families both living in New York around the same time, who had kids with similar names. Online researchers have supposedly mixed up the records between the families. I will be posting links from FamilySearch for the sake of simplicity (one common tree), although similar errors seem to exist in people's personal trees on Ancestry as well.

I've been going through generation by generation (starting from most recent) to try to validate each link and correct some less-than-sufficiently-rigorous work in the past. I think I've found where one of the main problems is, with a Freeman Borst. Problem is, I'm pretty sure there were two Freeman Borsts and I'm getting conflicting messages about which one was my relative, and as I was warned, I think others have mixed up records and conflated one person as the same person. Here is a profile on FamilySearch that might have errors: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LJ1H-32M

I am assuming that there is a Freeman Borst who is my ancestor, due to the established knowledge (which I hope I haven't messed up on) that this Marshall Borst is my ancestor: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LJ1H-CYR

Marshall should be the son of Freeman due to:

• the 1880 census: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6T7-7Z6?from=lynx1UIV7&treeref=LJ1H-CYR
• this marriage certificate: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FR6B-QSS?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-CYR
• this 1900 census where Freeman was living with his son (Freeman's name is mis-transcribed as Francis, but I can tell from viewing the document that it is Freeman): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9ZS-WV4?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-32M
• this death certificate: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NQMN-P82?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-CYR

I thought this was well-validated, due to the marriage certificate having both his wife and his parents' names in one place, and that 1900 census that has Marshall, Betha/Birdie (nickname), and Freeman in one house. If you see any errors with him, please correct me.

However, on to the main problem: Freeman Borst. The problem with this is that there were definitely two Freeman Borsts with similarly-named siblings. "My" Freeman Borst married a Lydia Perdew according to the 1880 census and the marriage certificate listed above. So, to further establish his identity, I found this marriage record of him and Lydia: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZX-KM4C?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-32M (Citation: West Virginia Marriages, 1780-1970, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZX-KM4C : 28 November 2018), Freeman Borst and Lydia Perdew, 16 Dec 1872; citing Marriage, Taylor, Hardy, West Virginia, United States, county clerks, West Virginia; FHL microfilm .)

That record lists Freeman's parents as David Borst and Hallen Borst. I've assumed Hallen was supposed to be Helen or Helena.

This is where it gets weird. Only 5 years prior, a Freeman Borst in Taylor County, WV married a Mary Jordan: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZX-V1HR?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-32M
That Freeman Borst's parents are listed as David Borst and Helennah Borst, which seems awful similar to David and Hallen Borst. In the 1870 census, a Freeman Borst is listed as living in the household of John Jordan

(the name of Mary's father in the marraige certificate), but no Mary Jordan is listed: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZHM-XT1?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-32M

So I'm getting the idea that Mary Jordan died in a tragic accident between 1867 and 1870. (At least, I hope it was only that - there is a history of domestic abuse along this branch of my family, but I would hope Mary's father wouldn't let Freeman stay there after she died if it were <i>that</i>.) Unfortunately I have not yet been able to find any death records for her. (Have checked on FamilySearch, Ancestry, and WVculture.org). At the end of the day, I am just not sure I have enough proof to say this was definitively the same Freeman Borst who married both of these women, and since the further back along this line I go, the more tangled things get, I wanted to be highly accurate.

Additionally, the federal census of 1850 lists a Freeman Borst in Cobleskill, Schoharie, New York, with parents whose names were transcribed as "Davis" and "Elemon" Borst: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC1K-LGP?from=lynx1UIV8&treeref=LJ1H-32M Looking at these records, I can't say that I am confident this was a mis-transcription of David and Helen(a), although I initially assumed so. If anyone with experience of old handwriting would take a look at that, I'd much appreciate it.

Lastly (for now), in the 1855 New York State Census has a Freeman Borst born to Levi and Catharine Borst in Wright, Schoharie, New York, only a few years off in age. (This is the only Ancestry link I'm posting, I hope it works alright.) https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=try&db=General-7181&h=1653068735

So, there's always more I could put about this Borst puzzle, but that's a lot. If anyone has any insights, I welcome them! I'm trying to clean up Freeman Borst's siblings right now, some of whom are mis-listed due to the Levi and Catharine vs David and Helen(a) mix-up.