Jane, I have found this to be true also . Data taken off documents are only as good as the source. Who is giving the information & who is copying & writing it down I find Bible records 1st. Headstone second. (I even have some headstones that are incorrect) All other documents are not to be taken as gospel. Even notarized & certified documents can be disappointing. I assume that we all have discovered that the worst are the census data & newspaper articles, that we so heavily rely upon as a source while doing research. " to be human is to error" James M. Bagby Indep MO In a message dated 4/23/2006 10:23:59 A.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) writes: Nothing has been more confusing than the spelling of one of my ancestor's name, GIPSON or GIBSON. In Macon and Randolph Counties some of the sons of Robert GIPSON are spelled differently on the tombstones. His son, Robert GIBSON is buried at Concord Cemetery in Macon County and another son, Stephen GIPSON is buried at College Mound Cemetery. My own grandmother, Hattie GIPSON Day was killed in a car wreck in 1953 at Clifton Hill, Mo. Her death certificate has her maiden name spelled GIBSON. Our family never spelled it with a B. Whoever wrote the certificate spelled it that way. So even in the 1900's mistakes were being made. If a name is taken directly from a death certificate, it may be incorrect. Although our family spells GIPSON with a P, we may be incorrect. How confusing is researching names? Jane Wisdom > >