As a genealogist conducts research to fill in data gaps or to flesh out the basic information with more facts and history, conflicts in data often occur. Experienced genealogists sort through these conflicts by evaluating the quality of the data and the probably source. Birth dates seem to be most susceptible to conflicts.
Examples of Conflicting Birth Data
My own genealogy research has turned up two excellent examples of how footprints left by an ancestor can result in conflicting birth dates. Seth Boynton Cheney was one of my wife’s great-grandfathers. Family lore said he was born in upstate Vermont, went west as a 49er at age 16, worked his way east to the Texas Panhandle and eventually to southwest Kansas, where he died in 1907. if the family lore (passed down to descendants of two of his children) was correct, that puts his birth year around 1832-1833.
But what does the evidence indicate? The attached figure shows all the data available: Vermont town records, Federal and state censuses, voter registration, death certificate, obituary, and tombstone. Based on his age on the various documents, Seth could have been born any time between 20 October 1832 and 1837. The different documents do not indicate any convergence as to a probably date. His death certificate is a government document. We would like to believe it. But how to reconcile this versus other data?
