TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2000-05 > 0957203245


From: "arlene" <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] Re: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems - demo
Date: Mon, 1 May 2000 13:47:25 -0400
References: <7B3D67AA81EBD111AC4000A0C96B23F7067F927D@orsmsx32.jf.intel.com>


My mgm used June 8th as her birthday "forever" -- I finally found her birth
certificate in Manchester, Eng.. Her actual birthdate was June 30, 1875 - 4
years and 22 days earlier that she claimed...

Her eldest son was born on June 30, 1896 -- wonder if that was when she
changed her birthdate? (;>)
Arlene


----- Original Message -----
From: "Grawrock, David" <>
To: <>
Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 12:25 PM
Subject: RE: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems - demo


> You must be very careful here. I "know" that my grandmothers birth date 8
> Mar 1911, we always celebrated it on that day. However when doing some
> research I ordered her birth certificate. DOB was 5 Mar 1911. So I showed
> this to my grandmother and she said well it must be wrong as we always
> celebrated my birthday with my father who was born on 8 Mar.
>
> Now we don't have anyone to ask anymore but I'd be willing to bet that the
> family made it a joint birthday party every year and that my grandmother
> just grew up thinking her birthday was with her dad. Margaret throughout
her
> life put down 8 Mar whenever she listed her birth date. As a matter of
fact
> my mother used 8 Mar on Margaret's death certificate.
>
> Now while 3 days makes no big difference it just shows that what we "know"
> when we use people's memory just doesn't have the surety that a
contemporary
> source does.
>
> David
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lee Hoffman/KY [mailto:]
> Sent: Monday, May 01, 2000 6:44 AM
> To:
> Subject: Re: TMG-L: Beginner's Problems - demo
>
>
> wrote:
> >I do have a question for the pros out there on sources. I'll pick one
> >example here but the general theme extends to many of my people. How
would
> I
> >list the source for my grandmother's date of birth. I haven't seen a
birth
>
> >certificate but I know it is her birthday. I can't go out and get birth
> >certificates for every person that I have this situation for. This thing
> >with the sources really has me wondering. I'm at a standstill with
> >everything wondering how to enter a source.
>
> Most of us have data like this when we begin. Such data is well known to
> us and some of we have actually witnessed ourselves. For these cases, I
> have a Source that I created called "Personal Knowledge" using the Mills
> Interview Source Category. This or something similar may be what you
need.
> This is excellent for your children's birth and such thing that you
> personally witnessed. It might also be used for your grandmother's date
of
> birth except that you would want to use a low Surety Value and/or some
> remarks in the Citation Detail.
>
> While you may _know_ your gramdmother's date of birth (I know mine), that
> knowledge is usually of a secondary nature at best. In my case, I know it
> because my mother told me and that is when I remember it being celebrated.
> Thus the reliability is not as high and actually is rather low since my
> knowledge is hearsay based on hearsay. Now if I had gained my knowledge
> from my great-grandparents Bible and the entry of my grandmother's birth
> date (which Bible is no longer available), then the reliability of my
> knowledge increases some as I base my statement on contemporary written
> data.
>
> Thus for interim purposes, you could document your grandmother's birth
date
> like this. But at the same time, I would enter a task in the Research Log
> noting that I need to find a more contemporary source to support the date.
> This might be an old family Bible, a letter stating an date and age at the
> time, census data, etc. Enter in the Keywords field any words, acronyms,
> abbreviations, or codes of places where you might find documents
supporting
> the data. Then as you go on a research trip (to the local courthouse,
> library, parent's home, Fort Wayne's Allen Co. Public Library, Washington,
> DC, or wherever), you can generate a List of Tasks report based on the
> Keyword that represents where you expect to search for this data.
>
> Hope this helps -
>
>
>
> ----------
> Lee Hoffman/KY
> E-mail:
> TMG Tips: <http://www.tmgtips.com>;
> My website: <http://www.tmgtips.com/lhoffman>;
> --------------
> A user of the best genealogy program, The Master Genealogist (TMG)
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> -
> TMG-L The Internet Mailing List for The Master
> Genealogist
> To unsubscribe: Send an e-mail to with 'UNSUBSCRIBE
> TMG-L'
> or... if you get the digest version: 'UNSUBSCRIBE
> TMG-L-DIGEST'
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> -
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
> TMG-L The Internet Mailing List for The Master
Genealogist
> To unsubscribe: Send an e-mail to with 'UNSUBSCRIBE
TMG-L'
> or... if you get the digest version: 'UNSUBSCRIBE
TMG-L-DIGEST'
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TMG-L The Internet Mailing List for The Master Genealogist
To unsubscribe: Send an e-mail to with 'UNSUBSCRIBE TMG-L'
or... if you get the digest version: 'UNSUBSCRIBE TMG-L-DIGEST'
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This thread: