When searching for ancestors, it is often helpful, if not essential, to look at their associates. This type of cluster-research, can break down brick walls. One of these walls is on my Serviss line.
My grandfather, Frank Serviss, had a brother, Arthur E Serviss. He was born October 1894 and died just hours later. He is buried with his mother, my great-grandmother, Clara Serviss.
Just slightly more than a year before great uncle Arthur was born, in August of 1893, another Arthur had been born to the family. This Arthur, again with a middle initial E, was the son of my grandfather Frank’s uncle- Frank Serviss. Arthur (1893) survived to marry and have a child, who was thankfully not named Arthur nor Frank. (He was father to a daughter).
Uncle (to grandfather Frank) Frank, had a brother born in 1877..named Arthur Ellsworth Serviss.
Grandfather Frank’s fifth son, born 1921, was named Arthur Serviss. He died in 1938 at the age of 17.
In 1923, George Serviss, brother to grandfather Frank’s uncle Frank, and brother to Arthur Ellsworth Serviss, named his second son Arthur Ellsworth Serviss.
Sometimes naming patterns in families can help, other times they are just confusing!
Diggin' up Dead People 