> I went off to an on-line database, created and maintained by a state's own > government. I scoured it for a fairly uncommon surname, and copied the > results into the database I created from a 1980s book on the family. > > I gotta tell you, there are some SERIOUS discrepancies between Marriage > Record A and Marriage Record B! > > SOME of it is probably due to some data-entry-er (me or them, doesn't > matter) picking up the date of the license rather than the date of the > actual marriage -- I figure up to a 30 day difference is that. SOME of the > discrepancies cannot be explained away. > > F'instance, I have a newspaper account of a marriage that occurred in a > different state altogether; this account is complete with the name of the > minister and the specific church in that other town. Yet -- same marriage > appears in these on-line records as having happened in THIS state. > > F'instance, I've seen a marriage certificate that says the wedding occurred > on 11 Oct 1869; state records say 29 Nov 1868. Now that's just _backwards!_ > > F'instance, woman still living says her name is Axxxx middlename; her > marriage record gives her as Ayyyy differentmiddlename. Good thing her > husband had a HIGHLY recognizable name or I'd never have found them! > > F'instance, woman is illegitimate and NEVER used her stepfather's surname -- > except on this marriage record. > > Then there's the one where every detail of bride and groom match the > database -- birthdates & places -- except that the marriage date makes him > 11 months old at the time. I /don't/ think so. > > So, all the info is in the NOTES and discrepancies are marked. Let someone > who doesn't know the participants figure it out. > > Cheryl Singhals <singhals@erols.com> I found with checking for my paternal grandmothers birth record that no one in the family knew her legal first and middle name. At some point in time, she changed it per information she gave (not a court change)! The birth record shows Maria Anna. She was known as and all other legal documents show Mary Elizabeth. I know it was her in birth records ( 1889) per THE PARENTS names. "Donna \(History Buff\) M. St. Felix" <dstfelix@erinet.com>