The context in which a document was created and the purpose for which it created matter.
A widow in 1901 lists people who attended her wedding. She lists three of her husband’s siblings and one in-law–clearly leaving people out of the list. That’s because the statement she was making was part of her Civil War pension claim and the court was interested in additional people who were living nearby and could confirm her story.
She was not providing a comprehensive list of attendees. Dead people cannot testify and those who may have attended but lived a distance away could not easily have given testimony.
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