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Archiver > PANORTHU > 1998-11 > 0910635857


From: Judy Lynn Weaver <>
Subject: RE: [PANORTHU-L] Dates Don't Match
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 13:24:17 -0500


Rick,

First rule of genealogy: never jump to conclusions! The son *could* have
been born in Mount Carmel in Jan. 1887 if the pregnant *mother* was already
in Mount Carmel; perhaps the father immigrated later in Sep. 1888, or he
actually came to another part of the U.S. first -- like he first settled in
Philadelphia in 1887 for work reasons, but finally "came to Mount Carmel" in
1888. (Or, perhaps your Great-Grandpa wasn't actually the biological father
-- maybe it was Great-Grandpa's brother or cousin, and Great-Grandpa married
the mother after he arrived in the U.S.?) I'd start looking for a marriage
record, in PA or abroad.

However, it's also possible (and more likely) that the father was mistaken
about the time he actually arrived in PA. I'd trust the birth certificate
more, since the date was recorded at the actual time of the birth, whereas
the naturalization papers apparently relied on the father's memory. At
least I *presume* the birth record was filed at the same time -- one of my
ancestors was baptized in a church whose records have since been lost. When
my ancestor needed a record of his birth for Social Security or something,
he contacted his church and the pastor signed a certificate giving the date
my ancestor had requested. The pastor was not the same one who had baptized
my ancestor (so he could not have remembered), and the certificate was dated
in the 1950s, well after the 1888 birth! Obviously, my ancestor could have
lied about his birthdate by many years if he chose to.

One other thing to consider that I keep running into: When events occur
around December/January, always double-check the year. When this new year
rolls around, many of us by force of habit will write on our correspondence
"January 1998" instead of 1999. I've seen records of people who appear to
have died before they were born, and siblings who were presumed to be twins
because the birth years were off a year. I've been told that gravemarkers
were notorious for this -- someone died in December, the family ordered a
tombstone to be engraved, the ground it was snow-covered and too hard to
install the stone, so the engravers waited until February to make the stone,
and it reads 1999 instead of 1998.

Over my 10 years of research, I've learned not to take much of anything at
face value. It makes for some potentially imaginative scenarios (like some
of those above), but it keeps me from making some large errors. Sorry it
took so long to explain them :-)

Judy Lynn WEAVER


> -----Original Message-----
> From: [SMTP:]
> Sent:Friday, November 06, 1998 3:15 PM
> To:
> Subject:[PANORTHU-L] Dates Don't Match
>
> I have a copy of Great-grandfathers Dec. of Intent. & Naturalization
> Papers.
> It states he arrived in Mt. Carmel Sept. 23, 1888. I just received a copy
> of
> one of his sons birth certificate that states he was born in Mt. Carmel on
> January 28, 1887. Both of them being legal documents, I'm confused. Is
> this
> just part of genealogy or what? Can anyone help here or has anyone else
> run
> into this type of stuff? Thanks, Rick...... :-)
>
> ______________________________

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