when I started my family reserach all I had was my dads death (by dad died in CA in 1954 when I was 9 years old) certificate and wow did it have wrong information on it. The only right information it has was his birth year and birthplace. It had his mothers maiden name as McCall and that was her married name and it had father unkown and in fact his father was Arthur Campbell who had died in 1928 and his mother remarried a Mr. McCall. So I wrote the town my dad was born in and got the right information. Now on my birth certificate it has my mothers maiden name as Horgan and in fact that is her married name before she married my father. My mothers maiden name is Gardner and I knew that. I find on birth certifcate's can also have wrong information and so I find myself writing to the state and town they was born in as they have the right facts. Now my husbands birth certificate says he was born Sept 12, 1940 and in fact he was born Sept 21, 1940 and that is what the bible says and all his school records someone just turned the numbers around. So if you know nothing about your family and there is wrong information I find writing the place of the birth to be better. Roberta Campbell Hopper -------Original Message------- From: sandmot Date: 12/08/05 05:30:08 To: CAMPBELL-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [CAMPBELL] To all persons Questioning Facts lilly, you said ( So I would always believe a Birth certificate before I ever believed any death certificate.)i have a birth certificate that is born example 7/11 and it was suppose to be 9/11..a 7 can me taken for a 9 very easy,but to correct it was quite a lot of other documents of which i could not find..they should have done it as july versus september..so caution to alot of documents.sandy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lilly Martin" <malik@scs-net.org> To: <CAMPBELL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 4:38 AM Subject: [CAMPBELL] To all persons Questioning Facts > To all others researching, > > I have only been doing research fro 4 yrs, so I have not learned alot, but > a few basic things I learned the old fashioned hard way. > > 1. Never believe that a Will will name all children. A Will will name > only those kids or persons that the writer of the Will would LIKE to give > something to, or to remember in the Will. > > A rich son might not be mentioned, but his dead brother's kids might. > Why? The rich son is already set up for life, why give him more, when he > doesn't need it? I can show you many Wills of men with large families, > and only a few kids are mentioned in the Will, so the names in a Will do > not necessarily equate to the number of children a man/woman has. > > I can show you a death bed Will of a young father, who forgot to name one > 4 yr old son. Why? He was in pain, sick, half dead at the time, his wife > was also sick, and pregnant. I think the neighbor men came to take down > the Will and get it recorded, and they wrote down the kids names as fast > as possible, the best they could, but with both parents laying at death's > door, one little boy got forgotten. He still grew up with the other > brothers, and when he died his kids were partially raised by his brother, > but he was never named in the Will. > > 2. Never put faith in the term Sr. or Jr. You could find a document for > Joel Campbell, and signed by Joel Campbell and witnessed by Joel Campbell, > Jr. and 'naturally' jump to the conclusion that they were father and son. > Not so at all, untrue! They were grandfather, and grandson, and the > father of Joel Campbell, Jr was not named Joel at all. > > So why do people use these term Jr. if not to mean their father was named > the same? They are also used as an identifier of AGE. Let's say I have a > community and there are several men, and in the same area named George > Campbell. Some are brothers, some cousins, some unrelated, some Uncles. > Along comes the census taker, and I tell him my name is George Campbell, > Jr. Was my Dad George also? No, he wasn't, but I want the census taker > to record that I am the YOUNGER man of the area named George Campbell, not > to be confused with my Old Man Uncle of the same name, or my OLDER > cousins, also of the same name. The same could be said of Sr., that might > mean that this man was the OLDEST man in his area name George Campbell, > out of a whole crowd similarly named. > > Don't ever believe the terms of Jr or Sr, unless you first determine > through other mans that you really do know who this person is. In fact, > at first you should doubt those terms, and then proceed to rersearch to > learn the true identity of that person. > > I come from a James Thompson , III yet he always said he was James > Thompson, Jr. Why, because his father was James Thompson, so he thought > he was Jr, but in reality he was #3, he just didn't rmember his > grandfather. > > 3. Never believe a death certificate. The DEAD person did know their own > name, and birth date and birth place and Parents names, etc. But the > problem is, the DEAD person was not filling out the DEATH certificate. It > was some daughter in law, or the cousin, or the old folks home, or the son > in law, and those people may, or may not know anything about that person. > I have many a death certificate filled out even by the deceased own > children, in which all the facts were distorted, convoluted and incorrect. > It is sad, shocking, and frustrating to look at an official document, and > know that it is incorrect. > > How do you verify it was wrong? You find the Birth certificate and then > you know the details of the death certificate were wrong. The parents are > giving the birth record of their child, they know when he was born and > where. If it says Iowa, then you know the death certificate which states > Maryland is wrong. I spent 6 months looking for a family in Maryland, and > I kept wondering why that name was so very uncommon in Maryland, it was > because the family was never in Maryland, nor even near to Maryland, but > the son who gave his mother's death info to the county officials thought > she was born in Maryland. To his mind, anything EAST of California, was > called Maryland! > > So I would always believe a Birth certificate before I ever believed any > death certificate. > > And marriage certificates can be wrong also. It is only as good as the > clerks handwriting. You may remember Nancy Campbell on her marriage > certificate? She was not Nancy Campbell, her name was Nancy Coffey. She > had no Campbell blood in her, she was simply getting married to a > Campbell. That mix up took me 3 -4 months to fathom, other researchers > kept trying to explain it to me, and I would go round and round, still > stupified. Finally I got to grasp the truth of the situation, based on > the parents, and their Wills, etc. > > 4. Never believe a History book which gives the Biography of local > persons, and states who their parents are and where they came from. These > books were written by writers who would come around and say they would > interview folks, and for a fee, they would write up your family story in a > Book which would be specific to your county location. > > My relative knew his mother was Lucinda, but she died when he was a baby, > and he was raised by his loving step-mother Nancy. So in the county book > he never mentioned his real Mom, only talked about his father and Nancy. > Now Nancy was born in NC, his real mom was born in IN, in all the many > lifetime of census records for him, he always states his mother's birth > place was IN. This means he was truthfully well aware he was not the son > of Nancy b. NC, but yet the book says that. So you can never believe a > book, even thought the family was interviewed for the book. People lie, > people forget, people change facts, etc. > > In conclusion, don't believe anything until you have studied it this way > and that, and have understood the family, and confered with others, and > feel comfortable with the facts of the case. Be prepared to find out that > there are birth, marriage, and death certificates which are wrong, or > partially wrong. Be prepared to find Wills which won't name your > relative, yet you know they should be named. Be prepared for anything. > Don't get nervous, or worried, this is a fun hobby, we can't make it a > science, it is an art, and it won't all fit into a nice neat box. There > will always be rough jaggedy edges we need to smooth down. > > Best regards, > Lilly Martin > > > > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx > ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.13.12/194 - Release Date: 12/7/2005