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Archiver > APG > 2008-03 > 1204485080


From: "Richard A. Pence" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Birth / Death Question
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2008 14:11:33 -0500
References: <030120080327.11054.47C8CD270001558000002B2E22155558840B9907089B0E0C@comcast.net>


This thread, which deals with trying to establish the exact dates of birth
and death of an infant child, has brought to mind something I have been
meaning to inject into the conversation. Now's a good a time as any!

It has always seemed to me that the important thing in genealogy is to
establish a solid link between generations. One of the things that computers
have done is to provide blanks which we seem compelled to fill in. Dates are
one of the blanks. But, really, what difference does it make whether a
child, particularly one that dies in its infancy, is born on the 10th or the
17th of the month. The only real relevance such a child has is that when you
are building the family group the loss of an infant child fills in a gap and
it tells you it's not necessary to look for a missing family member to fill
that gap. Further, exact dates are helpful in establish the identity of
persons with the same names. One a link between the generations is nailed
down, it is nice to have an exact date to fill in those blanks on the
screen - but you haven't failed if you don't ever find them.

I used to do the arithmetic to get a date of birth from age at death just so
those blanks would be filled. Then I discovered that too often the
calculated date was inaccurate so now I am content with just a year in the
birth blank and a note telling how old the person was at death. Works fine!
<g>

Richard P.
Fairfax, Virginia

----- Original Message -----
From: <>
To: <>; <>
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 10:27 PM
Subject: Re: [APG] Birth / Death Question


> Cheryl,
> Thank you for sharing the records. They appear to be an index to the
> original records, not an actual ledger of births and deaths. (unless all
> the babies were born in alphabetical order ;-) An error in the date could
> easily have occurred when someone copied the records into this
> alphabetical list. I would see if the original records are still
> available.
> Cathi
>
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "Cheryl Brown Abernathy" <>
>
>> Richard:
>>
>> The records are from microfilm images. (I have put them online at
>> www.rootsweb.com/~ohwayne/rossb_d.html). These are what early birth and
>> death records we have available here in Wayne County. You can see the
>> dates
>> very plainly in the book. I'm not even sure if the originals are still
>> available.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Cheryl
>>
>>
>> Richard wrote:
>> To Cheryl: Have you examined an image of the two records or are you
>> relying
>> on a transcription? If the latter, is it possible that the 10 July date
>> is
>> actually written 16 July? If that is not the case, have someone with
>> access
>> to the recor books check the dates for those above and below each entry
>> for
>> date verification.
>>
>> To Bob:
>>
>> Modern Genealogical Nomenclature 101 - what we presumably - or possibly
>> (don't know what sort of document Cheryl has) - have here is not two
>> "primary" records, but two "original" records containing primary
>> information.
>>
>> Richard P.
>> Fairfax, Virginia
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> .
>>
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