The problem of names

[alamonorth]

As we are all aware compiling the correct names of participants is not easy. Here is an interesting example. The muster rolls list only one Mahoney. His first name was Dennis. The problem is that there were possibly two people of this name involved. One was a New Orleans Grey killed at Goliad. The other Dennis Mahoney turns up in the muster rolls for the Texas Rangers toward the end of 1836. What are the possibilities:
1. It was a very common name
2. A relative out to avenge the family
3. The same person, an unknown survivor of Goliad.
By Occam's razor #1 is the logical choice but I have no idea. Any information out there?

[sloanrodgers]

I understand where you're coming from on the matter of similar names, but Dennis Mahoney from the Goliad
Execution and the Dennis Mahoney that served in various units in the late 1830s probably isn't a good case
to speculate that they may be the same guy. It's possible, but not likely. Logically, I think most researchers
would surmise that it's a common name (#1) and not the same individual based on what we know about the
unfortunate Goliad victim.

Dennis Mahoney (he signed his name Denis Mahony) was born in Ireland and immigrated at some point to North
America. He joined the New Orleans Greys in 1835 and was serving in Samuel Pettus' company when executed
at Goliad. This is verified by the Nov. 9, '36 Telegraph and Texas Register, Joseph H. Bernard's 1855 revised list,
Adjutant General's Office and maybe other sources. As a result of this Mahoney's death, his heirs received a 1st
Class land Grant (1476 acres) and a Bounty Grant (640 acres) in Palo Pinto County, Texas in 1858.

The other Dennis Mahoney was also born in Ireland, around 1816. He may have been a relation, but he probably
wouldn't have known a Mahoney relative was killed at Goliad before his mid 1836 arrival in Texas. He joined Capt.
Alfred P. Walden's company, 1st Regt. of Artillery (July 1836), which became Walden's Texas Rangers under Col.
Robert M. Coleman. He transferred from the Texas Rangers on Feb. 10,1837 to the regular infantry and served in
Capt. Lindsay S. Hagler's Company H, 1st Infantry Regiment until the end of the year. On Dec. 1, 1837 Mahoney
enlisted in Capt. John Lynch's Bastrop Rangers and was discharged on Feb. 20, 1838. Later, he returned to his
birthplace, married, raised a family, then settled in Mississippi in the 1850s. He was living with his wife and adult
children in Raymond, Hinds County, Miss. in 1880 and working as a laborer. He probably died in the 1890s as his
wife and children applied for a land grant ( 800 acres ) in Hartly Co, Texas for his military service to the Texas
Republic in 1899. Surnames like Smith and Jones with equally common given names are obviously a lot easier to
confuse and harder to track through the public and personal records. It is all about making little connections,
but sometimes there just arn't any that are visible to blurry eyes.

[alamonorth]

Great info RangerRod. I did not take option 3 very seriously, just thought I'd mention it. This just illustrates that to do proper history you need access to the sources. The middle of Canada is not exactly a hotbed of Alamo research especially when you need primary and not secondary sources.

[sloanrodgers]

Thanks. I may have given you more info on Ranger Mahoney than you wanted, but I was
bored here at work. I'm more of a ranger researcher than a Alamo source expert, however
I have applied my minimal skills to other areas. I think the internet has taken Canada out
of the research boondocks a bit. Everything I posted on Ranger Mahoney was found on the
web (republic claims, General Land Office records, muster roll index and 1880 U.S. Census)
and easy to access even in your neck of the woods. Of course more indepth research on him
would require trudging through various archives and doing a bunch of tedious digging. You're
probably not that interested in him, but I'm sure other Texas yahoos will catch your attention.