Blessings From Another Researcher ~ Putting the Pieces Together

I have made a mistake in my research on my biological paternal grandmother's line. I can only chalk it up to excitement in adding another generation to my biological tree. I also think that this is a blessing in disguise!

Fortunately, this week a biological cousin sent me information she received from another Bessinger family researcher. This researcher had forwarded a copy of her own grandfather's research into the Bessinger family of Bamberg County, South Carolina.
There were more than 100 pages to this gentleman's research and it was very detailed, however, it seems that there were two Josephine Bessinger's born in the mid 1890's Bamberg County, South Carolina. How did I miss this?

My biological paternal grandmother is Josephine Bessinger. Josephine was born on 12 August 1896 in Bamberg County, South Carolina. Josephine married Postell Samuel Carter, my grandfather about 1915. Josephine died 29 November 1974 in Charleston County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of George W and Eugenia Judy (MNU) Bessinger.

The other Josephine Bessinger was born 28 June 1896 in Bamberg County, South Carolina. She married Charles Frank Fail about 1917. She died 28 December 1959 in Charleston County, South Carolina. She is the daughter of
John Quincy Adam Bessinger and Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail.

Now for more than a year my research led me to believe that my Josephine was the daughter of John Q.A. Bessinger and Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail. I found Josephine's obituary on 7 June 2016 according to my research notes. I downloaded a copy for my records and did an image capture too. I then uploaded both of these to her profile in my database and on Ancestry. I even noted the difference in the parents names. I also added the "new" parents as alternate parents to both my database and Ancestry.

Fortunately this error of mine won't lead to a lot of "cleaning up" because I had not gone any further than the parents of John Q. A. Bessinger or the parents of his wife, Elizabeth "Hapsy" Fail. I will add my research notes to my Josephine with the new notes on the mix up and adding the email and additional research pages I received this week. 

I am waiting on my grandmother's death certificate to arrive by snail mail. I also have Josephine Bessinger Fail's death certificate as well. I believe that both Josephine's are related to each other. My DNA results back this up at Ancestry, FamilyTree DNA and 23 and Me. I have my work cut out for me. 

Thank you Jane, Debbie and Amber!

Think we might be related?

You can check your AncestryDNA results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit #A435226.  

You can also check your 23 & Me results with mine at Gedmatch, my kit # M357583.

If you have tested with Family Tree DNA you can check your DNA with mine kit #B16054. Also my mtDNA kit at FamilyTree DNA is kit #401662.