This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/WUB.2ACI/1265.2.1.1.1.1 Message Board Post: Agree.... but I would be more trustful of a month and year of a child's birth on the Census, then some other "facts" put down for adults. I don't want to prolong this thread. My point is that assumptions in Genealogy can often lead people down wrong avenues. Case in point: where Mary Stempf who died in Florida was born. I'm basing this on a search on Mary Stempf on Ancestry...and looking at the Social Security Death Index and the Florida Death Index. I'm assuming that Virginia is looking at the same resources as I am. If she is, then Virginia is making an assumption, and in most cases it's true....that "Florida" Mary was born in New York. However, all the Social Security Death Index shows is that her number was issued in New York. She could have been born anywhere, and was in New York when she applied. Although Mary Stempf is probably an uncommon name, there are 3 such people on the Social Security Death Index, and therefore probably a lot more people in the U.S. at the time with that name. I would advise our original poster to try to get Mary's Florida death certificate which may show her maiden name, or go after Mary's social security application which will show Mary's maiden name. Also go after any obituary that might have been posted for Mary to get some idea of the rest of the family. Perhaps the obituary should be the first priority, as it may rule out Mary as a "Hand." It might also be the cheaper route to take.