Questions about James Mottice

I just posted an obituary I found for James B. Mottice, and the facts of that obituary have left me very confused.

Let me try to explain that confusion in an, er, un-confusing fashion. The name James B. Mottice is most commonly associated with the only child of Peter Mottice's second marriage to Mary Sibert. This James B. Mottice was born in 1823 and died in 1889. He is mentioned in Peter's will and married a woman by the name of Sarah Marks.

This is not, however,the James B. Mottice of the obituary I just posted lived similar years, being born in 1835 and dying in 1893. But who was he? This one is -- as best I can determine -- the nephew of the other James B. Mottice, the son of the above-mentioned John B. and Elizabeth Mottice. The problem is that there is other evidence (though somewhat circumstantial) that refers to him as James W. Mottice.

Is this significant? Can I just assume there has been a typo (or 2 or 3) over the years, and that James B. -- the one referred to in the obituary -- and James W. -- son of John B. and Elizabeth -- are the same person whatever the middle name? I hope so, but then which is the correct middle name? I would like to think that an obituary published in the newspaper and presumable written by family would be more reliable that someone's transcription of someone else's difficult handwriting.

But you decide. Here are the issues, and I'll distinguish between them by referring to them as "B" and "W":

1. Both were born in 1835. B died in 1893, and at least one source has W dying in 1899.
2. B's wife was Eliza Markel, while W's wife was Louisa Marker. This discrepancy may actually be evidence that they are the same person since "Markel" may simply be a newspaper misspelling of "Marker", and "Eliza" seems to be a nickname for "Louisa" in at least one other circumstance. Louisa Jane Mottice, who was W's sister, is referred to in the Waynesburg Presbyterian Church records as "Eliza Jane." So perhaps Louisa Marker was commonly called Eliza Marker.
3. The obituary for B says that he had 7 children while W had only 5 children according to Dorothy Farber's family history. She identifies them as John Calvin, Elmer, William, Ollie, and Tillie. The 1880 Census Record shows James W. and his wife Louisa, and living with them are William H.H., Elmer, and Cora M. The only Cora I have encountered in historical records, however, is Cora Bell Mottice, the daughter of John Creighton Mottice and Catharine Gross who would have been 3 years old at the time and likely to have been living with her parents. The Cora referred to in the Census could be Cora Farber, however, based on Dorothy Farber's historical account. And who is William H.H.? W's uncle was William Henry Harrison Mottice, another son of John B, but he died in 1880 at the age of 38. To add to the confusion, B's obituary has a lengthy poetic eulogy signed only "Uncle Will".
4. B's obituary indicates that he was born at Indian Run Valley in Stark County. This is the area where the historical village of Devil's Headquarters used to be, and where W is said to have been born.
5. In the Record of Deaths, Stark County, Ohio, it is W who is listed as died on June 12, 1893.
6. In the session records for the Presbyterian Church in Waynesburg on two separate occasions -- Oct. 1, 1873 and April 12, 1884 -- the church roster lists "Eliza Mottice" immediately followed by "James B. Mottice", which may indicated that the two were husband and wife. Since the only other Eliza/Louisa this might refer to is Louisa Jane Mottice (see 2 above), and she was married or widowed to a Mr. Griffith by this time, it is unlikely that she would be referred to as Eliza Mottice rather than Eliza Griffith. Therefore, Eliza Mottice is likely to be the wife of B.
7. The estate records for Peter Mottice show the names of the purchasers of estate items. I haven't posted those documents, but I hope to soon. There are many family members listed as purchasers as you might expect. Now the original James B. Mottice -- not B, in this case -- was an executor of Peter's estate along with John B. Mottice. This James B. and John B. were half-brothers and sons of Peter by Phebe and Mary Sibert respectively. The estate records show a number of purchases by James B. Mottice, but there is no indication that it is B rather than James B. the executor. Moreover, there is one instance of a purchase by W.

So what conclusions can we draw? I suspect we can argue away most of these points of conflicting evidence and conclude that B and W are the same person. The explanation may be so simple that James had a double middle name, either James B.W. Mottice or James W.B. Mottice. I admit I have never seen either of those names in Mottice historical records, but there is precedent for this in his brother William Henry Harrison Mottice.

The most serious question mark is the differing account of how many children he had. The obituary says 7; Dorothy Farber (and other sources) says 5. Again, there could be an explanation as simple as 2 of the children died in childbirth.

We may never know the real answer, but there is hopefully a Mottice descendant who does and will share that answer.