Re: David Abernathy, Joseph Abernathy
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In reply to:
Re: David Abernathy, Joseph Abernathy
Otis Fuller 10/14/04
> Obviously, one would be led to infer that David had, at sometime, (at LEAST before the birth of Joseph) moved
> from NC to TN, wouldn't you think?
One would so deduce... but that does not in any way infer the actual date of that move. It could have been in 1822, not 1818, see? Which would mean the David in TN in 1820 was none of yours. According to you, all three sons of David and Jane were born in TN _after_ 1823. Until you can identify a sibling who is demonstrated to have been born prior to 1820, you haven't really shown that he was in TN at that time.
> Now, did you not say that you had found ALL the David Abernathy HH's in TN, on the 1820 census?
I think so, but I may not yet have found them all. It takes more time than I can devote to the project for one person to go, page by page, through all the un-indexed microfilm records for any one census year.
Of those which I _have_ found for 1820 TN, there are less than a handfull which I have neither identified as to which Abernathy lineage they belong with, nor discovered issue on subsequent census records.
> How many do you have?
I show three different David Abernathys in 1820 in TN. So far.
> Does logic lead you to conclude that one of them must be Joseph's father, or would you prefer to believe that
> Joseph (and perhaps the entire line of Abernathys) had all sprung, full-blown, from the head of Zeus?
Neither, Otis. Logic leads me to conclude that one of them _might_ be your Joseph's father. It also holds out the possibility that _none_ of them could have been your Joseph's father. Joseph, after all, was not born in 1820, but 4 years later, if I'm not mistaken. And just because someone is in a state one year does NOT prove they were resident in that state the next year. Or the year after that one.
Logic and other data also implys that at least one of them is highly unlikely to have been your Joseph's father, since all children of that family are accounted for. As yet, I cannot say the same for the remaining two Davids: I simply do not have enough data at this point to judge. The lineage on one of them, while essentially identified, is still far from complete, and there is no hint whatever of the names of the third David's children as enumerated on that census.
And no one springs, full-grown, from the head of some supernatural or mythical creature, no matter how many legands may abound.
One may not be able to identify origins beyond a certain point, but that does not imply anything other than an absence of documentation.