My grandmother was a Millspaugh. Her grandparents are at the bottom row of each of the images here. The images are from Ancestry and FamilySearch. The Ancestry image shows only her maternal grandparents which is the concern for our discussion. Tracing back Mary’s paternal line you can see we have a problem. There are conflicts.
First, we clearly have not filled in Mary’s mother or her maternal line in our Ancestry tree. There is data in the FamilySearch tree. It is not yet confirmed, but it shows that her mother was Frances Rovella McKenzie. My grandmother’s middle name was Frances, so that’s something to help confirm her mother’s placement. We will confirm it all and fill it in, but let’s take a look at the conflicts in Mary’s paternal line and see if we cannot resolve the conflicts.
Both trees show Mary’s father was Thomas J Bruce. Both also show the J stands for Joyner. Joyner was his maternal grandmother’s surname. So in that sense it fits. Both trees show Thomas’ father was Isaac Jones Bruce. It is Isaac’s father that is the first conflict. FamilySearch shows it was Azariah Benjamin Bruce. In our Ancestry tree we have Robert A. Bruce. The search spans at least four states and three counties in Illinois. Azariah Bruce was in Jefferson County in Illinois while Robert Bruce was in White and Gallatin Counties in Illinois. We will establish the line based on appropriate Standards as we research the truth over the course of the next several blog posts. We will check records including census, church, land, will/probate, and church records. We will also consult local histories and perhaps some DNA options. There is a lot of data and we should be able to definitively establish the correct Bruce.
