John Davenport

Were Aron Davenport and Laura Myers the parents of John W. Davenport of New Jersey?

What we knew
Death Certificate	According to John's 1920 death certificate, which is not completely legible, his parents names were Aron Davenport and Laura Myers. His wife was named Elizabeth Farrow and he was born in 1843 in Pittstown, NJ.

Where we looked
1870, 1880, and 1900 census Ancestry.com	John is with his wife and children in these three census years. In 1880 and 1900 he is in Essex county, NJ and says that he and both his parents were born in NJ. In 1870 John is in Union county, NJ. There are also 3 other John Davenports that are close matches for birthplace and age in the state in 1870 and two others in 1880.
1850 census Ancestry.com	There are five John Davenports in New Jersey in 1850 who were born in the state about the right time. All but two can be ruled out by comparing each of them to people of the same name in later years. One has parents named Charles and Elizabeth, is 10 years old, and lives in Morris county. The other is John W. Davenport, 6, in Franklin Township, Hunterdon County. His parents are Samuel and Lucinda Davenport. Pittstown, the known birthplace of our target, is in Franklin Township.
Deciphering handwriting	Since John's death certificate is partly illegible, I suggest taking another look at it. Having read many thousands of documents from the 1920s and knowing that an "S" can look exactly like an "A," I would not be surprised to find the certificate says John's father's name is "Sam" not "Aron."

What we learned
Look again	Sometimes sources offer conflicting information. It can be fruitful to re-examine a document in light of other research. Further work is needed to see where Samuel Davenport fits into the New Jersey Davenports descended from Humphrey.