[Genealogy] A Virginia Birth Date, an Earlier Match, Upcoming Events
Michael John Neill
mjnrootdig at gmail.com
Tue Aug 25 09:18:14 CDT 2026
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25 August 2026
** The Birth “Date” of Sarah/Sally Tinsley of Amherst County, Virginia
** Notebook Class
** Tracing An Earlier Match
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The Birth “Date” of Sarah/Sally Tinsley of Amherst County, Virginia
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Just a few thoughts on inferences, consistency….not an official “edict,”
but an out loud commentary more to keep me thinking than anything else. No
sources are cited in this post, but that’s really not the point in this
case.
I’ve worked before on an approximate date of birth for Sarah/Sally Tinsley,
probably a native of Amherst County, Virginia, who was born there in the
latter part of the 18th century. Births during this time period are often
approximate ones as few Virginians left birth records in the late 18th
century. It’s a great time period for not having a vital record of an event
that’s reliable and specifically states the information that is desired.
I used several items to approximate the time when Sarah was born:
- 1800 census age range
- 1810 census age range
- 1820 census age range
- 1830 census age range
- 1840 census age range
- 1850 census age
- the letter of consent in her 1798 marriage which implied that she was
under the age of 21.
Personally, I think that any census age is secondary information when
provided by the person themselves. Sarah’s knowledge of her age was based
upon what someone told her. I’m not entirely certain how accurate those
ages are, but the information she provided is direct evidence for her age
(year of birth) as it specifically states that information.
The letter of consent signed by her father in 1798 is slightly different.
It provides indirect information on Sarah’s age as the letter does not
specifically state her age–rather the existence of the letter at that point
in time likely stems from the fact that Sarah was under the age of 21.
Sarah’s father, John Tinsley, would have had first hand knowledge of her
age so in that sense his knowledge of the information regarding her age is
primary.
The census records and the 1798 marriage consent letter all allow for the
approximation of a range of Sarah’s year of birth within a two to three
year time frame. Of course the analysis hinges upon the fact that census
records are reliable. However it must be noted that Sarah’s ages in all
census enumerations are consistent with each other and with her 1798 letter.
Consistency of the census records proves nothing other than consistency.
That is, Sarah believed she was born in a certain year and always answered
enumerator’s questions from that same perspective.
The fact that the ages she gave in the census is consistent with the age
implied by the consent letter is a different sort of consistency. In this
case, the age implied by her father in 1798 is consistent with the age
Sarah provided in the 1800-1850 census records.
Which simply means that John Tinsley told his daughter she was a certain
age and she believed him.
Does this mean the age range for Sarah is wrong? Of course not.
But thinking of how things could be consistent and still be wrong is always
a good thought exercise
Unless records on your family are entirely consistent.
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-----------------------------
Trace that Earlier Match
-----------------------------
I’m working on a man I’ll call Bubba Bartels who was born in the later 18th
century in Massachusetts, spent most of his adult life in Vermont, and may
have lived in a few other locations.
Bubba’s in the big tree at *FamilySearcch. *That tree indicates that this
Bubba died in Upcounty County, New York, in 1841. There are some other
online trees that state the same information but there is no other source
besides a circle of tree references. Repetition of the same details is not
an indication that they are right. It only means the information has been
repeated.
My Bubba Bartels is fairly well documented in one Vermont county from about
1806 through 1840 through land transactions, census records, a warning out,
and birth records of his children. It’s possible that he moved to Upcounty
County, New York, after the 1840 census enumeration since there are no
other records of him in Vermont after 1840. It’s possible that he died in
Upcounty in 1841 as the online tree indicates.
But the Bubba Bartels who supposedly died in Upcounty? So far I have been
unable to locate any item mentioning his death there other than online tree
references to other online trees. But there’s another problem bigger than
the online trees circular references. Bubba appears in the 1840 census in
Upcounty and a smattering of other records in Upcounty while my known Bubba
was in Vermont. It’s starting to look like there’s more than one Bubba
Bartels.
That’s always the possibility when there’s a match to your ancestor that
requires your ancestor to move from point A to point B that the person in
point B was living there when your person already had himself parked in
Point A the entire time.
One of the ways to eliminate a potential match is to trace that person in
earlier records in the same location.
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Michael John Neill
Genealogy Tip of the Day
PO Box 17, Henderson, IL 61439
http://www.genealogytipoftheday.com
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