Dear Gene,
I have been researching since the 1980s; therefore, I understand a lot about family names being repeated, etc.,too. I also visited Hardy County, West Virginia and researched the records at the courthouse, the library and the Historical Society. I had a copy of the Vanmeter will before Gates did. In addition, I met with Karen Rolls in Keyser, West Virginia, who was featured on the PBS series with Gates. She is related to my first cousin on the Clifford line; as a result, my first cousin and Louis Gates are related through Louis's Clifford line. Before I even presented my info to Karen, she had already, or rather a cousin of hers, had already compiled a 66-page booklet of the Bruce family that descends from Sarah Bruce. My Solomon Bruce was in the book with his wife Jane and their children along with all of Sarah's other children and their families. As I stated before, Solomon Bruce named one of his son's that he had with Jane, Andrew Harrison, and the other he had with Nellie Lett, Andrew Jackson. I can give several examples in families where the same name is repeated while the husband or wife has had a second spouse. If there was another Solomon Bruce, where did he go? Why is he not in the census? Why would the Solomon Bruce who came to Greene County have Jane's children with him?