Hi Lilly, A.T. and all other posters; I had to laugh when I read your post about NOT believing all that you read. My case in point: My sister and I were raised by our grandparents who we called "mama and daddy". When my sister was 64 yrs. and old enough for social security, she sent for her birth certificate in another state. The document came back showing that our eldest sister was, in fact, her REAL mother. Needless to say, I fast tracked to the records office to discover that my b.c. said 'somewhat' the same thing. Of couse, by this time, grandparents and mother were deceased. The father's names on the certificates were not the same for both b.c.'s. So, I wrote to a "cousin" in another state who had gone to school with our mother and asked if she had any idea who our father could be. She gave me the name of the person. And, NO, I never contacted him or his family. So there is WRONG information on both our birth certificates, our school records, our grandmother's will, our mother's will, all the census records, and probably a lot of other records I have forgotten about. The 'cousin' who sent me the information is now also deceased. BUT, I have set the record straight in my family genealogical reports so future generations will get it right. Did I name the person who is our father? Yes I did, along with a copy of the cousin's letter. So, A.T. and Lilly are quite right. Never believe everything you read....even documents. Happy hunting. Phyllis in CA

...Even on tombstones. I had a distant relative whose tombstone said that she was born in 1857. However, she appeared in the 1850 census as being one year old. The 1860 census showed her as 11 years old. When I posted the information on the internet one of her direct descendants contacted me, quite upset, and pointed out my mistake. I gave her my reasoning and never heard from her again. I'm still not sure that she was convinced, as she felt that the tombstone was "gospel". Jim Campbell