If anyone has any research tips, I would be most grateful. Please respond directly. I have a marriage certificate from the State of Michigan for my great-grandparents, John W. Barnes and Minnie Thompson. I have a death certificate for Minnie Thompson Barnes. I have a death certificate for John H. Barnes. This certificate names John's father as Thomas Barnes, birthplace England. These certificates were sent to me by the deputy clerk of Tuscola County. I know my great-grandfather died in 1929 (from my father). I don't know for sure that John W and John H are one and the same, however. The death certificate states his age as 64 years, 6 days and gives his date of death as 6/5/1929, which means this Johon was born in 1865. The marriage certificate states John W. was 22 years at the time of the marriage license 11/24/1884. That means this John was born in 1862. The marriage certificate does not identify the father or mother of either John or Minie. John and Minnie are my brick walls; I cannot validate their parentage. John's father could be Thomas; a 90-year-old relative says John's father was Henry (could be Henry Thomas or Thomas Henry). Minnie's father is Andrew Thompson, born in Scotland, mother "Mary" born in England (according to 1900 census). But that's all I know about them. I have searched rootsweb, ancestry.com, genealogy.com, the LDS site, INgeneas. Looking for various combinations of Thomas/Henry Barnes and/or John and Minnie in Michigan and England. Thanks for any search suggestions. d (Dawn, 66-year-old mother of (4), grandmother of (11), full-time acctng employee, part-time writer/genealogy nut)

I cannot help you with John and Minnie, but I can tell you that you cannot depend on the information on the marriage certificate or death certificate to be legitimate. I know for a fact that my father was only 18 when he married, which was a legal age for marriage. YET, he gave his age as 21 on the marriage certificate. Whoever gave the information for his death certificate gave his birth year as 1903. He was born in 1896. I was old enough to know the true dates, thus I am able to make the correction in my family history. Another false statement that is hard to correct is census records. Oftentimes, a neighbor might have given the information to the census taker and just made a guess. Sometimes they got it correct, but more often, it was wrong. You just have to do the best you can and evaluate the informations you get to the best of your ability. Good luck. Mary > > I have a marriage certificate from the State of Michigan for my > great-grandparents, John W. Barnes and Minnie Thompson. I have a death certificate for > Minnie Thompson Barnes. I have a death certificate for John H. Barnes. This > certificate names John's father as Thomas Barnes, birthplace England. > > > I know my great-grandfather died in 1929 (from my father). I don't know for > sure that John W and John H are one and the same, however. The death > certificate states his age as 64 years, 6 days and gives his date of death as > 6/5/1929, which means this Johon was born in 1865. > > The marriage certificate states John W. was 22 years at the time of the > marriage license 11/24/1884. That means this John was born in 1862. The marriage > certificate does not identify the father or mother of either John or Minie. >