If a document gives a clear informant, ask yourself:
- what information did the informant know first hand;
- what information did the informant know because someone told him;
- would there have been motivation to lie;
- what information might she have guessed the answer to.
If a document does not give an informant, ask yourself:
- was there more than one probable informant;
- who was the most likely informant;
- how likely was the informant to know the information.
Always ask yourself:
- were there any penalties for lying on the document;
- how likely was it that the informant be caught in a lie;
- was there a motivation for the informant to lie.
Inform yourself and think about the informant.
One response
I’ve been amused by the number of cousins (MANY of them) who lied when they got married, overstating ages by as much as 3 years to skirt requirements for parental consent. Then there are the men who lied to make themselves look older to avoid the military draft or to draw Social-Security retirement benefits. I’m well aware of the difficulty of obtaining “delayed birth records”, but it wasn’t impossible to stretch things by at least a year until at least the 1970’s.