Inaccuracies in primary records

Question

Researching my family has revealed many inaccuracies for primary records.

For example: the burial location of my grandmother, threw correct spelling of my great graother's middle name, the birthdate of my father (on his birth certificate no less), the spouse name for a great grandfather (the reporting nurse, not the spouse).

Any ideas whether its worthwhile cleaning this stuff up for future generations?  And if so how?

Comments

dang Bill - I thought having a tombstone with the wrong spelling was bad, but. Dang. The birth certificate sounds like a nighmare!  What I did for the incorrectly spelled maiden name on the tombstone was to point out the error & restate the correct spelling on the profile page.  Don't know that you can get the primary source(s) corrected, but you can document the error as an error and give the correct information on the profile pages for your relatives in WikiTree. At least that way the error/correction should be easily found by future generations.

Cheers,
Liz

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Thanks LIz - my Dad's birth information is a mess.

I know what day he celebrates his birthday (Feb 10, 1922); I have his birth certificate from Arkansas, which had a form letter 191_ for the year - and the doctor filled in "2" : so it says 1912 as his birth year.  Also, it has written in very poor doctor's headwriting what looks like a "9" instead of a "10" for the day of the month.

The State of Arkansaw didn't start filing birth certificates until after 1912..

His National Guard discharge says he was born: Feb 10, 1919 - as he joined when he was 15, and you had to pledge you were 18 to join the National Guard: but in his small town in Arkansas, it was a way for all the teenagers to have rifles to shoot: and he joined up.

His Army Discharge from WWII shows he was born Feb 10, 1922.

His Death Certificate says he was born Feb 10, 1922.

He could have easily filed for Social Security earlier based on his birth certificate or his National Guard discharge, but didn't.

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Would it be worth contacting the appropriate records office and pointing out their errors? I know beurocracy is a big thing, but humans do make mistakes and records should be accurate.

Answer 1

Could your grandfather have altered his Birth Certificate so he could join the National Guard.  Many guys did so they would be accepted.  He was 15 needed 3 yrs to be 18 that would account for the 3 yr change from 1919 to 1922.