A relative was born in 1910 in Oklahoma.
While she had no birth certificate, her parents are enumerated in the 1910 census as a young couple a few months before her birth. The family can be found in every decennial census record–where her place of birth is listed as Oklahoma. Everything is consistent, except for her 1980s death certificate in California which indicated she was born in Ohio.
Of course the document is transcribed exactly as it is written and correcting it is out of the question–it is impractical, not material to her death, and likely to be met with derision from the records office.
The bigger question for me is “how?” How did the place of birth get listed so incorrectly? Death certificates for individuals who died at an advanced age (as this person did) are notorious for giving birth details that can be suspect, especially when the informant is not a relative.
My theory?
Somewhere the place of birth was abbreviated in such a way that “Ok” looked like “Oh.” Or maybe the relative in California just got those Midwestern states that begin with an “O” mixed up. No matter it looks the “Ohio” place of birth is simply an error and nothing more.
Sometimes that’s all there is.
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