I've encountered a bit of confusion over the years because of a chap called Thomas Ross. I have proved that he was in fact married to Janet McLaughlan ( spellings vary) on 27th March 1846, and born Dumfries, possibly Applegarth, at some period between 1813 and 1820. He did not marry Jane Affleck!
For some time someone with another Thomas Ross with wife Jane had abducted mine.with his family. This "Other Ross" was born between 1813 and 1820, I think, but in Cheshire, England.
I untangled the two families myself, that didn't please the "someone", who was desperate to get Scottish ancestry - the Cheshire one was concerned with bookbinding, started off in 1841 census in Stockport, and a couple of decades later moved to Burnley in Lancashire. Clear enough, I thought.
"Mine" started off ( I think) in Dumfries area, although I've not yet identified him in 1841, or managed to find which of the many Thomas Ross births/baptisms in the general area may be him) and is an Innkeeper in Dumfries until 1870s, and I believe he died in the 1870s. His daughter, Mary was safely married to Robinson Strong, and in Whitehaven area by 1881, and his widow was still in Dumfries at that census
Given the different birth dates he gave, what would be the most sensible and economic way to narrow down the candidates for his birth and parentage?
(I've given deatils of the "Wrong Rosses" because so often when I'm searching online this lot come up, all tangled with mine)
Advice and / or help sought, please.