SNGF: Ancestors or Cousins Born on Your Birth Date

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge tonight is to see if you have any ancestors or cousins that share your birth date. You can find the 'rules' on his blog, Genea-Musings.

1. What is your birth date? (Not the year... just the month & day)

February 22nd

Robert F Barnett's headstone, Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Salt Fork, Grant Co, OK
Image by bobetx1 posted at FindAGrave

2. Do you have anyone in your tree who shares your birth date? (Randy's post shows how to find this from your genealogy program)

There is one person on my tree with my same birth date: Robert F Barnett (1843-1912). He is not a direct ancestor, but he is someone I'd like to research more. He is one of the husbands of Matilda Katharine "Kate" Coppenbarger (1848-1899) who is the daughter of Peter Coppenbarger (1817-1847) & Mary "Polly" Randolph (1818-1885) who were my 3rd great grandparents. Their son, Josiah Randolph Coppenbarger (1844-1934) was my great, great grandfather, and Kate's brother.

I'm going to extend this 'challenge' & see what I know about him & his wife & what I can find out.

WHAT I KNOW:

I have Robert F Barnett's birth & death dates (1843-1912) & place of birth (WV). I don't have recorded where I got this information. I also have him in the 1880 census in Sumner Co, KS with his wife, Kate, and their two children, Lawrence & Luna who were 10 & 8. So, I also have their marriage date & place (1868 in De Witt Co, IL) though, again, no documentation. Robert was Kate's second marriage, so I believe they were together until her death in 1899 in Oklahoma, though I also show she was buried in Wisconsin. (Sadly, again I don't have any documentation!)

WHAT I FOUND TONIGHT:

• Find A Grave entry showing burial in Grant County, Oklahoma and verifying years of birth and death. It also shows Kate buried here, so I don't think she's buried in Wisconsin!
• Found another son, Ray, through census records
• Found Robert was born in Illinois, not West Virginia (several census records)
• Found Robert as a child with his parents & siblings in De Witt Co, IL
• Found the family on the 1875 census which showed daughter's name as Lura, not Luna
• Determined his probable place of death (Grant Co, OK) based on the census of where he was living two years before his death and where he was buried

3. Share!

Here's my post. I found quite a bit in about 30 minutes of work. It's always a good idea to follow this children of your ancestors!

Do we share common ancestors? I'd love to talk! Please write me at drleeds@sbcglobal.net