I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is this primary evidence of birth date? Dennis Hawkins

I would say no. My fathers birth date shown on his death certificate is wrong. It made him 2 years older Victor On 21/12/2015 10:35 PM, Dennis Hawkins via wrote: > I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is this primary evidence of birth date? > Dennis Hawkins > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

You have to remember that the information given on a death certificate is given by a third party and as such what is written on it must always be viewed as suspect. The only person who knows the correct information (or sometimes not) is the person who died. My grandmorther always said she was two years older than she was until we obtained her birth certificate. Regards Jackie -----Original Message----- From: Victor Markham via Sent: Monday, December 21, 2015 10:45 PM To: family-historian-users@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [FHU] Primary Evidence I would say no. My fathers birth date shown on his death certificate is wrong. It made him 2 years older Victor On 21/12/2015 10:35 PM, Dennis Hawkins via wrote: > I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is > this primary evidence of birth date? > Dennis Hawkins > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Hi Dennis If the Death Certificate is an original or a 'stamped' copy of an original then it is Primary evidence. Likewise an image of the 1881 census is also Primary evidence. However, when I use only a transcription of a Death i.e. from FreeBMD then I cite that as Secondary. Likewise a transcription of a census. It is the document or 'source' of the information that is primary, secondary etc., not the content. Take the different ages on Census as an example. We have up to nine census to give us an age, the chance is that we can deduce a different birth year for each of the nine. The census image is still the Primary source at that point in time even though you think the content is suspect. The transcription by the local history society or Find My Past will always be at best case Secondary evidence. So, to answer your particular question, regardless of the content, if the certificate is a true copy of a GRO entry then it is the best you can get without finding the original register so, yes, it is Primary. The fact that the informant couldn't count is neither here nor there, it is what they thought at the time, you can't rewrite history. David -----Original Message----- From: family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Hawkins via Sent: 21 December 2015 22:36 To: family-historian-users@rootsweb.com Subject: [FHU] Primary Evidence I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is this primary evidence of birth date? Dennis Hawkins ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Dennis, A death certificate is only Primary Evidence of the death, nothing else. For Primary Evidence of a date of birth, you need the Birth Certificate. All the information on a death certificate, with the exception of the date, cause and name and address of the informant is in effect 'hearsay' as it's from the recollections of the informant. Regards Lesley Baxendale On 21/12/2015 22:35, Dennis Hawkins via wrote: > I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is this primary evidence of birth date? > Dennis Hawkins > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

A Death Certificate is a primary source type for a death, and its date, and its location, and its informant, etc. The death details can be confirmed, or contradicted, by other source types, such as Internment Record, Gravestone, Newspaper notice, Family Bible, etc. It can also be a source type for other "facts", but it should be ascribed the relevant reliability rating. So yes, it can be a source for a date of birth but should be of lesser rank than other sources. In the absence of other sources, it may be all that you have to go on for the birth. In which case you would append notation to that effect. It can similarly be your only source or secondary source for wife's name, where residing at death. Even the deceased's parents' names are recorded in some jurisdictions but these can be even less reliable than date of birth. But it is still a source. Bill -----Original Message----- From: family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:family-historian-users-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Dennis Hawkins via Sent: Tuesday, 22 December 2015 9:36 AM To: family-historian-users@rootsweb.com Subject: [FHU] Primary Evidence I have a death certificate which lists the birth date of the subject. Is this primary evidence of birth date? Dennis Hawkins ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to FAMILY-HISTORIAN-USERS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message