In the previous post, I discussed the confusion over birth years for my great grandmother Eleanor R. Kelly. There were 2 different years on her death certificate, one year on the 1900 census record, a different year on her social security application and finally 1888 on her baptismal certificate, which turned out to be the correct year. But why didn’t I accept one of the other resources as the truth?
The death certificae is not a primary source, meaning it is not produced by the person. In this case, the informant for the death certificate was her granddaughter, and she didn’t know the correct date, giving 2 different years, or maybe the doctor didn’t know either. Eleanor lied about her age throughout her life, but why?
The census record again is not a primary source. When the census taker came to the door of a home in 1900, anyone could answer the door and give the information-an aunt, a grandmother, a child, a teenager, a hired person or if there is no one home, the information could have been given by a neighbor. The 1900 census record states her birth date is January, 1888. Given the other incorrect information, I was reluctant to accept this as the true date without further substantiation.
I thought surely the Social Security application form would have the correct birth date. It would be filed by Eleanor herself and incorrect information could affect when she would receive her Social Security later. The birth date is given as January 19, 1889. I almost convinced myself this would be an accurate date, but there was a nagging little voice in the back of my head saying “better check another source.” A primary source is produced at the time of the event, such as a wedding, baptism, or birth. So I kept looking.
The marriage license for Eleanor and her husband Claude Blount did not give a birth date at all, only that her father signed that she was over 18. They married in 1905, so if she was over 18, she could have been born in 1887, 1888, 1889 or even later. More questions popped up.
Having been raised Catholic as had many of my ancestors, I knew that the Catholic Church baptized babies and kept very good records. I contacted the local church where Eleanor was baptized and received the record. It stated her birthdate was Jan 19, 1888 and she was baptized in February, 1888. This record in the blog is a transcription made in 1942 from the original record at the local church. The baptism record would have been considered a primary record because it was recorded at the time of the event. I had finally found what was needed to prove her birthdate as January 19, 1888. The 1900 census and the baptismal record both gave the same date and it proved my conclusion.
But why would she lie? Why wouldn’t she admit to her own age? What was she hiding? Most families have at least one big secret in their past and Eleanor had two.
She married in June 1905 and her son Daniel was born in February 1906, not quite 9 months. I knew these dates for several years, but only later did I really take a good look at these items. Eleanor would have been 17 when her son was born. Daniel, her son, married, had 2 children, fought in World War II and is buried with an engraved tombstone with the birth date of February 24, 1906. He even entered the US Army with that birth date. In one of those hunches we have in genealogy, I decided to obtain Daniel’s birth record from the city where he was born. I had not done this and am not sure why, but I finally did obtain it. His birth date was actually 30 Nov 1905 according to the city records. I was floored.
Eleanor was 17, pregnant, and Catholic when she married Claude and had her son 5 months later. Being Catholic, pregnant, and unmarried brings with it a whole different set of hurdles to jump. Her husband deserted her soon after her son was born, so he wasn’t around to verify the birthdate of their son. Eleanor’s father died in 1911 and her mother Mary died in 1913, so they would not have been able to correct the information given in the family. Her son Daniel grew up believing his birthdate was Feb 24, 1906, as did his family.
But why did she lie about her own birth year?? I believe she did not want anyone to know that she married at age 17. Because there might be questions about why she married so young. She did not want to have to answer those questions. The only person alive from the time when her son was born was her sister and she obviously never told anyone.
When I knew Eleanor she was in her late 60s and early 70s. She worked as a switchboard operator for a local medical clinic, lived in her own apartment and looked every bit like a proper lady. She wore gloves, fur stoles, hats and always looked her best when she was out. I am sure she had been nervous throughout her life that someone would find out the truth about her and her son. But it took her great granddaughter to figure it out, some 30 years after her death.
The whole point of this posting is to never just accept the first source you find, question everything, read every bit of the source, whether it is Ancestry, FamilySearch, or another database, look at dates, who gave the information, when did they provide the information. Continue to check and double check. It pays off in the end.
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