16 February 2011

Betty was Born November 7th... or was that the 8th?

     Depending on the document you're looking at, my grandmother, Betty Huyler Albea, was born on either November 7th or 8th of 1931. I have four different documents with birth dates for her, with two documents supporting each date. Here are the documents:

Birth Certificate:



Birth Announcement:

Bible Record:

Death Certificate:

     From what I understand (mom, correct me if I get this wrong), Betty always gave her birthday as the 7th. She said she was told that she was born late at night, but certainly before midnight. However, the hospital recorded her birth later than it actually occurred. And the newspaper announcement would come directly from the hospital records.
One the other hand, the bible record follows the family tradition of the 7th. And the death certificate quotes the date Betty always used.

    In this situation, we follow the family tradition of November 7th over the original birth certificate. Usually birth certificates are considered to be one of the best and most accurate documents available. However, this situation shows that any document, even the most "primary" ones available, can be suspect. Heck, my birth certificate spells my middle name wrong. 


1 comment:

Ruby Craft said...

Yes you are correct. She said her birthday was November 7th. I believe that Daddy needed her birth certificate for some reason and that's when she found out her birth certificate had the wrong date.

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