One of the primary sources we might have for the death date of our ancestors is their tombstone. When the newspapers don't exist for that time frame, when there were no death certificates (begun in 1911 in KY), when the funeral home is either out of existence or their records "way back" don't exist, and when no family members still live who were there ... it's the tombstone IF we can find the cemetery. But, who put the information on the tombstone? Who gave the information to the engraver or who carved the information in with a pocket knife? It came from someone who, at the time, thought they knew the date of birth and the date of death. Did you ever stop to think that the stone might have been put up years later by a family member who took the dates from memory or oral tradition? A conflict can also come from differing dates shown in the records. In copying many stones over the years with Martha Harrison, we have found that one date of death was shown in a newspaper obituary, another from the funeral home and yet another from the stone! In an instance like this, I would likely opt for the funeral home record as most of them recorded the event right after it happened and their records are either held in old ledgers, one date after another, or alphabetically. But, these can be in error on the date and place of birth; they can only record the information given them by the "informant" who might give them the wrong information. I remember when my father died that I was so distraught that I gave them my Dad's wrong date of birth and had to go back and correct it. But, even if there is a discrepancy, if you find the tombstone, copy it exactly dates and all. Add any extra information - many in the past had verses of Scripture, poems, decorations, organizations they belonged to, etc. Don't add to what's there or leave anything off. You can then note in your records that this date(s) conflict with other sources. Give as much of a detailed location as you can as to its location so others might be able to locate the stone later if it still stands. Sandi Sandi's Puzzlers: http://www.gensoup.org/gorinpuzzles/index.php Sandi's site: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/