One should question every single fact on a birth, death, marriage or SS certificate, even within those records kept by govt, except PERHAPS the names of the immediately subject persons, and even those names often have erroneous initials (or none), nicknames, and many variations in spelling. Just as you have made mistakes, so too have our ancestral record keepers, and those errors often are greatly compounded by the abstractors whose materials are on the net, and sold either for money or are free. In short, there ain't no such thing as a set of perfect records, and the more folks who have transcribed those early records, the greater the chance of mistake. Paul ----- Original Message ----- Sent: Monday, December 29, 2003 4:41 PM Subject: Re: [VAROOTS] Social Security -5 Form...... Beware though, this information is only as good as the memory of the one supplying it. I don't know who filled out my grandfather's form. The writing differed from Grandpa's signature and I question the accuracy. My mother helped fill out my grandmother's form and she didn't know how to spell the names of her mother's parents. I've found these same problems on death certificates and other papers. The informant doesn't always know the information he or she is asked to give. Barb Marshall