Records lie to us. The very records we depend upon to reconstruct our families, lie all the time.
This 1900 census for my gggrandmother Hannah Harbor stated that she was widowed:
Hannah Harbor, 1900
But her former husband was alive and well; he had just left her for another woman. I guess I wouldn’t want to say that either.
This 1920 census shows my ancestor Ada Seaman happily ensconced with her family:
Ada Seaman Family
But she had died in 1918. She could not have been in the household in the year 1920, unless they were living with her ghost:
Ada Seaman Death Cert
This Maryland ancestor remembered my gggrandmother’s name was Margaret (Simpson), wife of Levi:
Maria Howard Death Cert
Close. But it was Martha. Margaret was Martha’s stepmother.
Ferdinand Holt migrated to the great city of Indianapolis in the early 20th century. He filled out a World War II Draft card that proclaimed his birthdate:
Ferdinand Holt, WWII
But he wasn’t born in 1895. He was born in 1887. It was correct on his World War I Draft Card:
Ferdinand Holt, WWI Draft
Oddly, the actual day (Dec 6) stayed the same, even though the year changed by 8!
Records lie. Records manipulate and deceive. The only way to be sure that what we are recording is accurate is to correlate each piece of evidence and closely examine every document and rationally explain any conflicts. Every document has the potential to contain inaccurate information. Viewing records in isolation and accepting what they purport as true can’t be our practice.
I only show a few examples above, but those examples kept me going in the wrong direction for years. It is only by researching many different document types (census, vital records, deed records, court records, military records, bible records, etc. etc.) that we can we begin to form an accurate picture of our ancestor’s lives and flesh out the data that is incorrect.
So, what documents have been lying to you?
LOL! I could not agree with you more and I must say that I feel and share your sentiments exactly when dealing with census records. But as one of your previous post states, it is so important for us access the original documents and thoroughly analyze them line by line and make note of the inconsistencies that we find. I have a similar situation going on right now. So I’ve stopped the presses and have ordered copies of other records so that I can make more accurate decision about my findings. Great post!
Oh, I could not agree more! My mother’s death certificate gave her “improved” birth year, not her real one, which I learned only from talking with my cousin and finding the 1920 census when she was 5 years old. She wanted to be a year younger, so she just declared a new birth year. And her real birth year came just before vital records started in SC.
I don’t even take census ages (and inferred birth years) seriously any more! They wobble all over the place, from one census to the next. People change the surname spelling, in my family, all through the 1800s and early 1900s. On my own birth certificate, my father’s middle name has a new creative spelling. My father’s co-workers at the Veterans’ Administration had a saying, “Good enough for government work.” That’s what we’ve got with so many of these records . . . we take them with a grain of salt and negotiate a likely “truth” among all of them.
By the way, I don’t have a wordpress blog, I just joined wordpress to make a comment on your blog. My blog, in case you want to know, is http://mariannregan.authorsxpress.com. My name is Mariann.
Thank you for this so-true blog. So clearly illustrated!
Excellent Post! I can totally relate to this. Like you said, you have to look at multiple sources to get a proper sense of what was accurate your ancestor.
Thank Andrea! I’m still trying to sort out more of my “lying” records;)
Robyn