Use multiple sources to verify facts

Proper documentation is to genealogy what good evidence is to a detective. You can't build a solid case without it.

That's why experts recommend substantiating important events with three different sources. Why three? Because even the most reliable documents often contain wrong data. Just because birth and death certificates and marriage records are considered official documents doesn't mean they're accurate. Moreover, facts may conflict. A marriage record may give a birth date, for example, that doesn't match the one on that person's birth certificate.

Death certificates are notoriously inaccurate. Except for the date of death, the remainder of the information is provided by an informant whose memory could be in need of an upgrade. He or she may have no clue where the decedent was born, who his parents were or how old he was and may simply guess at the answers. A good researcher uses the death certificate as a guideline and chases down other resources to corroborate the data.

Sources come in two categories: primary and secondary. A death certificate is a primary source for a person's death date because it was created when the event occurred. That same document is a secondary source for his birth date. But don't get hung up on terms. Save your mental energy for acquiring enough proof to ensure you're creating an accurate historical account.

Marriage license applications are generally reliable since the people directly involved personally give the information. Still, discrepancies exist. My grandfather, Elijah Murray, married my grandmother, Addie Mills, on Aug. 26, 1908. On their marriage license application, Elijah stated that he had been married once before and that his spouse, Sara Leichliter Murray, died on Oct. 27, 1891. Whoa! Wait a minute. Not likely. Elijah and Sara had three sons whose births in 1892, 1894 and 1897 are well documented. When their daughter died in March 1902, Sara was named in the obituary as a survivor.

Unfortunately, Sara is buried in an unmarked grave. No tombstone to check. A quick inspection of the county's Death Books showed Sara's demise as Oct. 27, 1902. She was 31. Two (official) public records. Two very different dates. A third document -- a microfilmed issue of the local newspaper -- resolved the problem. Sara's death was mentioned in the weekly gossip column, Mountain Matters. The item was published on Oct. 31, 1902. Ta-da!

Published family histories contain errors. The most beautifully bound book, complete with a Library of Congress Catalog Card Number, may be hopelessly flawed. An International Standard Book Number is not a seal of approval. The contents are not independently verified before publication. It's up to you to do the legwork.

Likewise for local histories. Consider these the forerunners of the modern vanity press. People paid to be included in these books. Their version of the family's history got printed. Between faulty memories and an inherent human desire to present one's kin in the best light possible, sins of omission are a definite possibility.

What to do? Confirm birth dates with baptismal certificates, military pension records and Social Security card applications. Use wills, probate records, funeral home records, obituaries and epitaphs to bolster evidence of death dates. Prove a marriage with census records, land transactions, pension papers, death certificates and their progeny's birth certificates.

Occasionally you'll encounter a goofy situation that really boggles the mind. Two unrelated people who were tracing different families found their research converged on the 1880 census. One showed Joseph Means listed as a stepson in the Hoover household. The other found him in a neighboring township where he appears to living with his grandparents, whose name was Weimer. Further investigation revealed that the census had been taken a few months apart in those two locales. The kid was counted twice.

Quote of the week: "I'd rather look for dead people than have them looking for me."

- Donna Murray Allen welcomes your questions about genealogy and will respond to those of general interest in future columns. Sorry, she can't take phone calls, but you can write to her c/o Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731, or e-mail her at rootscolumn@aol.com. She is online at www.sptimes.com. Type "Donna Murray Allen" in the search box.

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