Some years back I sent for birth cert. for some of my children, they needed them for job and other such things, when they came back, it stated I was born in E. Chicago ,,Ill,,,,,,,,,,,,not In.Everything I have prior to that time says E. Chicago In.............so how do we trust even those....just a point of view............thank you all,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lillian

lillian chastain wrote: > Some years back I sent for birth cert. for some of my children, they needed them for job and other such things, when they came back, it stated I was born in E. Chicago ,,Ill,,,,,,,,,,,,not In.Everything I have prior to that time says E. Chicago In.............so how do we trust even those....just a point of view............thank you all,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,lillian > > > You're absolutely right, Lillian. Society in general is moving faster and faster in a direction of accepting mediocre standards (or worse) in everything in our lives, so much so that it's getting harder and harder to trust even official certified records. We can only do our best to (1) always be aware of the problem; (2) document our information from multiple independent sources (that do not possibly get their information from each other); (3) don't accept mediocrity unless we really have no choice; (4) try to get an error fixed at the source when we encounter one and are able to do so; (5) fully document all the facts we find with multiple sources, including the wrong ones, so it's clear *how* we arrived at our final conclusions; and (6) maintain high standards for ourselves, so as not to add to the problem. If you have good reason to doubt the accuracy of information on a certificate you get, most vital statistics offices will double-check the information you received, while you wait on hold, if you just telephone and explain your question. The issuing clerk *may* have simply made a mistake when filling in the form to be sent to you, in which case you have every right to expect an accurate certificate to be sent upon return of the inaccurate one. You *paid* for a document *certified* to be accurate *according to the official record*. You have every right to get what you paid for, but that doesn't go as far as getting them to put something on the certificate that isn't actually in the record already. The advance phone call for verification avoids wasted time sending a document back for correction when the mistake is actually in the original record...something that isn't so easily changed. Because records clerks can only certify what is in the actual record, most vital statistics offices have specific guidelines and fees for correcting that information in the original records, depending on how long ago that record was made. The closer you are to the date of the original event, and the more reliable a witness you are as to the facts involved (i.e., a party to the original record), the easier and less costly it is to fix the record. This is why it is always a good idea to get a copy of any official record to which you are a party right after that record is made, to see that the info put on record is correct. Some states automatically send a copy of a birth certificate to the new mother when the record is first made, specifically advising her to check the information and report errors within so many days (usually for free within that time, but nevertheless possibly requiring some other proof or confirmation). Unfortunately, recipients of incorrect records may not notice or care about a mistake at the time; and some states don't even send out that first certificate until or unless someone sends a standard request and the fee; so an error actually made by a vital statistics clerk, a hospital clerk, or some other person along the way in the making of the original record may not be detected until 20 or more years later, making it much more difficult and costly to confirm the correct facts and correct the record. The obvious questions by the clerk 20+ years after a record was originally made are "How do we know that it's really wrong and what the real facts are?" "Why didn't someone raise a question about it sooner if it's wrong?" If you can't satisfactorily answer at least these questions, you won't get it changed. If you can't get a primary record corrected, then the obvious thing to do in your genealogy research is to compile as much documentation as possible of the accurate facts from other sources, and to fully document those sources, as well as an explanation of the incorrect information. If you only include the correct information as you know it in your records (as many people and programs do), when the incorrect information is brought up years after you aren't around to explain everything, the person reviewing your research and then coming across those primary documents is likely to judge that you were wrong or sloppy in drawing your conclusions and go with the information in the primary documents. Diane

Lillian and all, Years ago, a smart genealogist told me that anything can be wrong, when it comes to searching for ancestors. Anything at all. That proves itself over and over in my searches. I know my parents are my parents because I look like them and have all their worst traits. My dad looks like his dad, and his mother says she gave birth to him. She seems to have been a witness. Otherwise, what can we really "prove?" Sharon