Why a nonsense birthdate?

Question

Simeon Harris was born 1761, and died 1847 in what's now West Virginia.  She was 1at wife.  2nd wife was Hannah Smith.

I notice he married her (Christina Westfall) on Dec. 20, 1784.  That can't also be her birthdate.

Comments

This often happens because "before" and "after" used to be lost.

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Easy enough to fix. I don’t think people should be so hesitant to fix obvious errors. When giving an estimated date it is always good to provide the reasoning in case someone can improve on the date later.

Answer 1

It looks like a typo. A search of Ancestry produced https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/1592804/person/-1914719847/facts?ssrc= which says birth year 1764. The tree is essentially unsourced but mentions a county history for the marriage date. Ancestry does have some better records.