Been finding duplicate records on FamilySearch where everything is the same but the dates.

Question

I've been noticing lately as I grab primary sources from FamilySearch that there are often two birth or wedding records with two different dates for the same event. I've been dealing with West Virginia records so I'm wondering if there was a problem with the state records or is there a glitch at FamilySearch when indexing?

examples:

Weddings

1816 1814 same wedding, two years apart

Birth:

3 Jun 1853 3 Jun 1854

These are not the only two names. I just chose two that I was working on last night.

Answer 1

The record for the 1816 date links to a county record. (I tried looking at it, but got an error.) The record for the 1814 date is part of a collection 'Compiled from abstracts, transcriptions, and originals of West Virginia county marriage records' (according to the collection description). So, you should of course check the original record for the 1816 date, but my guess is the 1814 date came from an abstract or transcription, and the abstractor/transcriber just misread the date.

Comments

I agree with Harry.  If you go to the actual data base that is cited in Family Search ("West Virginia, County Marriage Records, 1776-1971", Database. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : 26 December 2023.), search the names, and click on the images of the transcribed records, it's a hodgepodge.  It looks as if the data was typed on a form that was designed to record property sales rather than marriages, and that about half of the left-most date column was truncated in a scan at some point.  It's difficult to tell which data element goes with which subjects.  My inclination would be to use the 1814 date and mark it uncertain until you find some other piece of info that supports one date or the other.

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Thank you. That is helpful.

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Thank you. I think West Virginia recently changed their site and all the old links don't work now. And I have had a hard time using their website to find people. And I have been dealing with West Virginia kin the last few weeks. I appreciate your time.

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The site has this note: 'As a result of the tornados and power outages last week we have had to get a repair done to our VRR server. We are working on the issue. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.' So we'll probably just have to wait for the repairs.

Answer 2

I use FamilySearch a fair bit myself, and I think sometimes even primary sources... just get things wrong. The most egregious examples tend to be censuses, which sometimes seem to make up dates (and name spellings!) out of nowhere, but I've seen it in other sources too.

Comments

I can understand misspelling from Census because they couldn't possibly know how to spell everyone's name. But the events at the county shouldn't have two separate records with different dates--but all the same people.

I wonder if they had to reconstruct data or something?

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I've reached the point where I don't add the information to any family tree without uploading a scan / picture of my source as an image. Frankly, I cite the original source so it can be found and reference in the comments tab where I started. Frankly, if Verizon goes down again, or cell towers after disasters, I want to know which land / will / register to go to. And if it was the index entry for the marriage, I copy that AND the cross reference.  I only pull sources to records I can get an image of. I enter them ranked by surety (primary, secondary, tertiary) and tag.

When I see something changed on one of my directs on family search, I ask them for a copy of their source. If no answer or it's an "unsourced source", I change it back to my known good, and let them know.  Politely, of course.  I also put a comment in (as obvious as I can) saying don't change it, see (specific source attachment). It's a waste of my time if people keep changing it back, and it's worked for a couple of my records. 3rd great grfather born 1799 vs his cousin twice-removed born 1801 in the same county. It was getting changed and relationships deleted or not resolved every couple months. :: sigh ::

Sorry for the rant, but it's a solution that's working sometimes.