{"id":53043,"date":"2019-10-02T12:28:28","date_gmt":"2019-10-02T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=53043"},"modified":"2019-10-02T12:28:55","modified_gmt":"2019-10-02T16:28:55","slug":"genealogy-challenge-records-do-not-always-agree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-challenge-records-do-not-always-agree.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Challenge: Records Do Not Always Agree"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found this massive family Bible of my cousins Amos and Olive Howard (Pettingill) Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: cover of the family Bible of Amos and Olive Clark. Source: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a heavy, oversize Bible and measures 18 \u00bd\u201d by 11 \u00bd\u201d. It was published in London in 1816.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: title page of the family Bible of Amos and Olive Clark. Source: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In this Bible there are no printed family registry pages inserted in between the Old and New Testaments or at the end of the book.<\/p>\n

Instead, the family wrote their family history information on the blank front pages and on the blank end pages of the Bible.<\/p>\n

Looking at the first page, I began to examine each entry and compare it to other family records that we have.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: family record page of the family Bible of Amos and Olive Clark. Source: Thomas Jay Kemp.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first entry is for Amos Clark\u2019s sister, Charlotte (Clark) Bayley<\/a>, who \u201cDeparted this life April 5th 1847.<\/em>\u201d Good to know. There is no death date for her in the family records.<\/p>\n

The next death entry is for his father, Amos Clark (1790-1854)<\/a>, who \u201cDeparted this life March 22 1854.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s interesting \u2013 the family record states that he died on 22 March 1854.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see what the newspapers that week recorded.<\/p>\n

The Daily Atlas<\/em> tells us that he died on 21 March 1854.<\/p>\n

\"Obituaries,<\/a>
Source: GenealogyBank, Daily Atlas (Boston, Massachusetts), 24 March 1854, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Looking at the town clerk\u2019s records, I found an entry for Amos Clark\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

His death is listed on line number 41 on page 83 of the town\u2019s death register. It tells us that Amos Clark, male age 64, was a baker who died 21 March 1854.<\/p>\n

\"Source:<\/a>
Source: FamilySearch, \u201cMassachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001,\u201d database with images, FamilySearch. Essex County, Newburyport Births, Marriages, Deaths 1833-1857. Image 209 of 226; citing Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Two contemporary records \u2013 the newspaper account published three days after his death and the town vital record that was likely entered in the town records within days of his death \u2013 both say he died 21 March 1854.<\/p>\n

Notice that the entries of deaths on that page in the town\u2019s death register are in chronological order. The entries in the Clark family Bible are also in chronological order. It\u2019s likely that the entry for Amos Clark was written in the family Bible by his son around the time of his death.<\/p>\n

Which date is correct: March 22nd or March 21st?
\nWho notified the newspaper or the town clerk and supplied them with the information?
\nDid that person give the wrong date which was then passed along to the Boston newspaper?
\nDid son or daughter-in-law simply enter the wrong date in the family Bible?<\/p>\n

Looking closely at the entries in the Clark family Bible before and after the listing of Amos Clark\u2019s death, it appears from the ink, handwriting style, and position of the entries on the page \u2013 compared with the fourth and subsequent entries \u2013 that the first three entries were all written at the same time. That might account for the discrepancy in the date of death.<\/p>\n

We will have to uncover additional records to confirm the date.
\nWhat we do know is that these three contemporary accounts vary by one day.<\/p>\n

The next steps would be to search for any additional records of Amos Clark\u2019s death. Church registers, probate records, a published funeral sermon and other sources could give us more information and confirm which date is correct.<\/p>\n

Genealogy Tip:<\/em><\/strong> Records of the same event might not always agree. You will need to uncover all of the records for each of your relatives, evaluate them, and conclude the accurate dates of the key events in their lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, Thomas Jay Kemp finds a death date written in a family Bible that differs from other records, and discusses what to do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[1797,12,2719,2020],"class_list":["post-53043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-death-records","tag-genealogy","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-newspaper-archives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/photo-1002-2019-featured-graphic-clark-family-bible.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}