Benjamin Gordon Corley was the son of Martin Harrison Corley and Nancy Rebecca Harman. Or maybe not. Benjamin is listed as a child in the family on FamilySearch but with no sources. Can any evidence be found to confirm Benjamin as a real person? If not, what should be done?

According to Benjamin Gordon Corley’s FamilySearch profile, he was born on 28 January 1884 in Edgefield County, South Carolina. He died on 14 May 1903 without a death location. His profile had no sources. The profile was created before 2012 and imported with the migration to the current FamilySearch profile. Very likely the original creator of the profile had reason to believe Benjamin Gordon Corley was a real person. Still, this presents a challenging research question.

Looking for Benjamin Gordon Corley

Adding Benjamin Gordon Corley to my Ancestry tree allows me to leverage Ancestry’s record hinting algorithm. If record hints do not show up on FamilySearch or Ancestry, that sometimes means there is some mismatch between records and what is known about Benjamin. It could be an incorrect name or date.

The next step is to determine where to look for Benjamin and what records he would be most likely to appear in. This begins by looking at the birth and death dates and locations. Even though this information may be incorrect, it is a place to start. The next step is to look at where his family was during the same time.

Benjamin was not included in the listing of children in the 1880 U.S. Census because his birthday was in 1884.¹ Neither a birth nor a death certificate would be available because those record types did not begin until 1915 in South Carolina.² Benjamin should have been in the 1890 U.S. Census, but that census year was lost to a fire. This means there is one primary record collection where Benjamin may be found before he died in 1903. That record collection is the 1900 U.S. Census.

1900 U.S. Census

Benjamin Gordon Corley’s father Martin Harrison Corley was listed in the 1900 U.S. Census in Dale County, Alabama. Martin has remarried to Sally. There were several children in the household, including his sister Rebecca Corley. Benjamin was not listed in the household.³

There could be several reasons why Benjamin was not with the family:

• He died before 1900, and not in 1903.
• He was about 16 years old, old enough to possibly leave home.
• He could have been living with other family members.
• Benjamin could have been incorrectly linked to the family and was never a child of Martin Harrison Corley and Nancy Rebecca Harman.
• Benjamin never existed.

Benjamin was not listed in the 1900 U.S. Census with any of his siblings. A more general search of the 1900 U.S. Census for the entire country also did not return any results.

Next Steps

Not finding Benjamin Gordon Corley in the 1900 U.S. Census does not necessarily mean he never existed. Some researchers have assumed Benjamin’s mother died about 1885. This lines up with his birth date of 1884, suggesting she may have died as a result of his birth. But there is no evidence either way.

There are still a few possible record types to search. If Benjamin was living in Alabama with his father between 1884-1903, then there could be a headstone or cemetery record. A family bible or church notation about his birth and death could be sufficient evidence. Until all record types and collections are searched, the possibility exists that Benjamin was a real person. His profile can’t be deleted or unlinked quite yet.

In this situation, it is often best to add notes to the profile of what records were searched. Ancestry has an option to add a research tag such as, “unverified,” along with notes or comments. It may help future researchers to know what has been attempted in the past to avoid duplicating work.

Sources

1. 1880 U.S. Census, Edgefield County, South Carolina, population schedule, Huiet Township, enumeration district (ED) 54, sheet 216C (stamped), p. 43 (penned), dwelling 401, family 401, Martin Corley household; digital image, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 7 September 2024); citing NARA microfilm publication T9. ↩︎
2. “Edgefield County, South Carolina Genealogy,” FamilySearch Research Wiki, accessed 18 September 2024, https://www.familysearch.org. ↩︎
3. 1900 U.S. Census, Dale County, Alabama, population schedule, Daleville precinct no. 4, Newton, enumeration district (ED) 61, sheet 177A (penned), dwelling 210, family 212, Martin Corley household; digital image, FamilySearch, (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 7 September 2024); citing NARA microfilm publication T623. ↩︎