Re the mention of reliability of data from a headstone, I've got a very good
example.

A little over two years ago, my mother passed away at the age of 91.  As my
brothers and I were tending to funeral arangements, we discovered a "slight"
discrepancy in several documents -- and what we had believed for years.

Mom's social security information had her birthdate as Nov. 20th, 1912,
which is what we had celebrated for 40+ years.  Then a copy of her birth
certificate was located that had a date of birth of Nov. 13th, 1912.  We
worried about what to put on the headstone for a while, then finally decided
to use the date we had always celebrated.    I went to an uncle on my
fathers side who also had the Nov. 20th birthdate and he said as far back as
he could remember, my mothers birthday was the 20th.   My mother had an
older sister that had a birthday of Nov. 13th, so I guess it is possible
that somewhere along the line, in my mothers childhood, someone decided to
celebrate my mothers birthday a week later!

Normally you would expect the birth certificate to be accurate -- but I have
another case where one has a wrong name.

Wayne



----- Original Message -----
From: "Excalibur131" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 7:28 PM
Subject: Re: proof


> Ms. Mills and Mr. Drake and others,
>
> Let me thank you both for the mountains of work, the dedication, the
> effort,
> and the time spent furthering our genealogical knowledge. I respect you
> both
> tremendously and, in conversations, have used your words and examples many
> times.
>
> Sadly, I'm afraid I have lost my way in the current conversation. What you
> have said is wonderful, thought-provoking and lofty goals to attain, but
> is
> it "real world" applicable?
>
> Headstones -- a headstone "...is PURE hearsay in its most apparent form."
> Hearsay! Yuk! Yet many of us spend days, weeks, months wandering through
> old
> cemeteries looking for that elusive headstone. Entire books have been
> written describing what headstones are in a given cemetery. And, in some
> cases, a headstone might be the only piece of information we know about an
> individual. It is hearsay, PURE hearsay! Do we discard the information? Do
> we not use it at all? Should we set aside the books that many of us have
> that describe these wonderful headstones? I won't. Do I want to backup the
> headstone information with some other form of record? Sure I do, but in
> lieu
> of another record, the headstone is the best information I have. I will
> use
> it and hold it near, appreciating the mere fact that I have something.
>
> Certified, Notarized, Etc. -- what do we really gain? Here is what I have
> found to be the case the majority of the time in the "real world." I go to
> a
> courthouse. I copy a certificate (birth, death, marriage, other) on the
> ever
> present copier. I carry the copy to the counter. A clerk gets a
> rubberstamp
> and stamps the copy (certified or notary). A clerk then scribbles
> something
> in the blocks made by the rubber stamp. I pay my fee. I leave.
>
>    Ah-ha! Houston, we have a problem. The clerk has no idea at all as to
> what they just certified or notarized! The clerk did no more than certify
> or
> notarize that it was a piece of paper. It could have been something I took
> out of my bag, a piece of trash, perhaps my grandsons drawing. It didn't
> matter because the clerk didn't bother to look. The clerk didn't actually
> see me copy the certificate. The clerk has no idea whether I modified the
> copy before presenting it for certification or notarization. The clerk
> will
> not know and no one else will bother to find out if I modify the copy at
> home. But the clerk collected the fee and that makes it alright. Yet
> genealogical societies will accept this piece of paper simply because it
> is
> certified or notarized. I believe that standard is ludicrous. Give me my
> copies, uncertified and unnotarized, and to heck with the genealogical
> societies.
>
>    Many courthouses charge 600 to more than 1000% markup just to have a
> rubber stamp and some scribbles applied to a copy. This is akin to highway
> robbery, yet we tolerate it just to have a meaningless stamp and
> scribbles.
> On the other hand, some courthouses charge the same exorbitant fee
> regardless of certification or notarization.
>
> These are "real world" facts. I'm sure that I'm not the only one with
> evidence to support what I've said. Is there really much of anything that
> can truly be considered as "primary?" Do the "words or actions described
> or
> written by a person who was present at the utterance or event -
> first-hand -
> or who by reason of some unique place and time had the opportunity to
> accurately know of those events and words" make it fact anymore than a
> worthless stamp on a piece of paper or the lonely headstone in a cemetery?
> Did that person who was present at the utterance or event hear the words
> correctly and record them correctly? We only assume. Did the person
> present
> at some unique place and time describe the events with an eye towards
> facts
> and without embellishment? We can only hope. Yet we wave the flag and
> shout
> "Eureka!" when we find such things.
>
> For me, I hold my certified and uncertified, notarized and unnotarized
> copies in equal esteem. The weeks and months I have walked among my
> ancestors in lonely, sometimes forgotten, cemeteries gathering information
> makes their worth invaluable to me. I would love to attain the lofty goals
> we talk and write about, but right now the "real world" is at my feet and
> I
> cannot turn it away.
>
> Confusion reigns supreme.
> Tom
> Royalty to Rogues
> http://www.l-dunaway.net/
>
> To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions
> at
> http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html
>

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe please see the instructions at
http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-roots.html