One problem-solving approach when analyzing a document or a record is to ask yourself, “how did this record and the information it contains get to me?” Sometimes the answer is not as simple as you think.
That age for Grandma on the US census you’ve obtained on FamilySearch, probably went through a process very similar to this one:
- Someone provided that age for Grandma to the census taker–it may or may not have been Grandma.
- The census taker thought about what he heard. It may not have been what was actually said.
- The census taker wrote it down in their notes. Their handwriting might have been sloppy.
- The census taker later wrote up their notes for the actual census. They may not have been able to read them.
- That census record sat around until it was microfilmed. Ink fades or is sometimes blurry.
- That microfilm was used to create a digital image.
- If you are using an index, then someone read that image and created the index entry.
There are a lot of steps in that process. Not all records we utilize as genealogists have this many steps from creation to our own access, but it is sometimes helpful to think about each one of them and the potential for error to creep in.
One response
Can be as bad as having a marriage registry list the father-in-law’s year of birth for the spouse. I came across an index record that did just that. She married Junior, but his father’s year of birth was listed as his. :O Makes for some listing a third wife for Senior on their trees. Oopsie.