As you know, I’ve been trying to find any siblings or parents for Luke Phillips, who says he’s from New York, but seems to have sprung out of Michigan fully formed in 1828. I noticed him living near Jay W. Phillips’s family at one point, Jay also being from New York and right about the same age.
And I have found that Jay’s kids–George, Frank, Helen, Bruce, and Flora–appear to have named their children the same or similar names to Luke’s kids–Alfred/Fred, Charles/Charles, Maria/Mary–and that my ancestor (Frank) could have gotten his name from Jay’s son.
I know that’s kind of confusing, but basically, if Jay and Luke are brothers, as I suspect, the cousins were all naming kids after each other.
But how to prove it?
I’m having no more luck finding Jay’s family ascendent family than I am finding Luke’s.
Bleh.
Updated to add: To add to my desire for Jay’s family to be our family, I also have an uncle Bruce, though my dad swears it’s not because it was handed down through the generations.
Tiny Cat Pants 
I am having so much similar frustration. Don’t even get me started on how many Absalom Hoopers there were in the 18th and 19th centuries. And now I’m running into it in other branches of the family. It was quite popular for siblings to name their children for each other and then name cousins the same. Heck, my family was doing that in my generation still. But they were sisters instead of brothers, so that helped.
Did you get that email I sent you about Absalom and Methodism? That cemetary was up off Dickerson Pike! I should go look for it sometime, if it’s there.
I did get your email and I am a turd for not writing you back.
But, yeah, it’s especially frustrating when you find so much and then bam right into the dead end.