Hi Nancy, Didn't you tell me that you had visited the cemetary where your grandfather was buried? If you got dates off the tombstone then I would tend to believe those. Sorta cast in stone you might say. If you didn't visit it-do you know what cemetary and approximate location? Sam

Tombstone data have the same problem as death certificate data: they depend on the knowledge of the informant, whose knowledge may be very faulty. Death records are usually very accurate for the date and place of death, but are often very inaccurate with regard to date and place of birth. This is especially true with women, who may have begun to lie about their age in mid-life, rendering the informant ignorant of the truth. The rule in genealogy is that you take first-hand information over second-hand information and earlier information over later information. So, despite the inherent problems with census data, I would take an early age in the census over an age on a tombstone -- and a birthdate in a family bible trumps all, *unless* the bible was back-filled by a descendant. Bottom line is, when the data disagree, you have to weigh all the evidence, without dismissing any just because it makes a decision difficult. And, in the end, you may simply have to say, "uncertain," because an error is worse than an unknown. Diana P.S. I discuss the problem of misinformed informants on death certificates and tombstones further on this web page: http://dgmweb.net/genealogy/Misc/Common/ReliabilityDeathCertTombstone.htm [email protected] wrote: > > Hi Nancy, > Didn't you tell me that you had visited the cemetary where your grandfather > was buried? If you got dates off the tombstone then I would tend to believe > those. Sorta cast in stone you might say. If you didn't visit it-do you know > what cemetary and approximate location? > > Sam > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237