Believe me, I know from working for the government there are outstanding employees, average and those you hope you don't have to work the case after. Lamar Wadsworth <[email protected]> wrote:Bear in mind also that people as adults lied about their ages for whatever reason. My maternal grandmother was 2 years and 8 months older than my grandfather. She was embarrassed for people to know that she was that much older than her husband. She would admit to 8 months but not 2 years and 8 months. When she died, as his last act of devotion to the only woman he ever loved, my grandfather had her preferred date of birth--1887 rather than 1885--inscribed on her tombstone. One of my great-grandmothers was born 1871 according to her tombstone. She shouldn't have been on the 1870 census at all if we believe her tombstone, but she was not only on the 1870 census, she was 5 years old in 1870. Census records are not infallible for a variety of reasons. The census taker may have been very conscientious or may not have given a hoot. The census taker may have been a local schoolteacher picking up some extra money over the summer as a census worker, or the census taker may have been the town drunk. Sometimes a family wasn't at home when the census taker came and, instead of going back later, the census taker asked a neighbor. The neighbor, of course, didn't know the exact ages and guessed at it. Perhaps the neighbor omitted one of the children or got one of the children's names wrong. A good general rule is that the closer the creation of the record is to the time of the event, the more accurate it is likely to be. For instance, here in GA where births were not officially recorded until 1919, I would give more weight to a family Bible record that appears to have been recorded when the child was born than I would give to a census record indicating that the child is X years old. An 1870 census record showing that my gr-grandmother was 5 years old in 1870 carries more weight than a tombstone that says she was born in 1871. When sources give different ages for the same person, it is a judgement call as to which source is most likely to be accurate. --Lamar On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 19:26:48 -0600 "Margaret Davis" writes: > My mother's family always said that my uncle was born December 24th > 1910. > After the census came on line I found him in the 1910 census and he > was 2 > years old. Now people are supposed to list their children and > themselves as > the age they would be when the census was taken right. If they took > it in > June and the census was effective as of April they listed the age as > what it > would be in April. You could not get my mother to realize that her > family > made a mistake. I told her, you would mistake a baby's age a couple > of > months old but how could you mistake a child 2 years old, but she > never > changed her mind. So from that "mistake" right there I was skeptical > of all > records, and tried to find a verification of each. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Lamar Wadsworth" > To: > Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 7:09 PM > Subject: Re: [TURNER] Re: Documetation > > > > Harold, > > Perhaps you do not exist. You could be only a figment of your own > > imagination. I'm reminded of a woman I knew who was probably near > if not > > past 100 when she died. She did not know her exact age or date of > birth. > > She once remarked, "All I know is that I have been around as long > as I > > can remember, and I can remember back a long time." > > --Lamar > > On Tue, 8 Mar 2005 18:26:44 -0600 "Harold" > > > writes: > >> Documetation is WRONG a lot > >> times: > >> A lot of people don't have the money > >> to send off for copies of documents. > >> You would have to have documents > >> on each and everyone for it to work. > >> > >> A lot of times even if you had the money, > >> people don't know where to write for > >> documents; on top of that they don't > >> know the dates; and without dates' > >> you can't get most documents. > >> > >> If you send your money and they > >> don't find a document; because the > >> dates don't match, or the names are > >> spelled a little different; they keep your > >> money for looking. > >> > >> Harold > >> p.s. there is no documentation that > >> I was even born. > >> > >> > >> > >> ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== > >> Turner list website - > >> http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/t/turner.html > >> > >> ============================== > >> Find your ancestors in the Birth, Marriage and Death Records. > >> New content added every business day. Learn more: > >> http://www.ancestry.com/s13964/rd.ashx > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== > > Turner list website - > > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/t/turner.html > > > > ============================== > > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx > > > > > > > > > > ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== > Turner list website - > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/t/turner.html > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > > ==== TURNER Mailing List ==== Turner list website - http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/t/turner.html ============================== New! Family Tree Maker 2005. Build your tree and search for your ancestors at the same time. Share your tree with family and friends. Learn more: http://landing.ancestry.com/familytreemaker/2005/tour.aspx?sourceid=14599&targetid=5429 Lisa Chatelain __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com