Three Birth Dates and One Application
You are preparing a lineage-society application for Mary Ellen Cartwright, born about 1888 in Kentucky. Three sources disagree. A family Bible published in Philadelphia in 1890 contains handwritten birth entries in one hand, including 'Mary Ellen Cartwright, born June 12th 1888'; the entries appear to have been made in 1905 when the Bible was inherited. Mary's 1942 death certificate, informant her son, gives 'June 15, 1886.' The 1900 census, enumerated 8 June, lists Mary as age 11, born May 1889. The application requires a single birth date and a citation for the chosen source.
1. Analyze each source by origin, information type, and informant. Which date is best supported, and with what confidence?
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Source analysis
The Bible is an original source as an object, but the birth entry is derivative information if copied from another record; the informant is unknown. It was written in 1905, seventeen years after the event, so it is not contemporaneous. The death certificate is an original source for the death, but the birth date is secondary information from the son, who was not an eyewitness. The 1900 census is an original source, but the age and birth month are self-reported by the household and may be off by a year.
Best-supported date
All three are secondary for birth. The Bible's precise day and month are the only ones tied to a family record, and the 1900 census supports a birth in 1888–89. I would use 12 June 1888 as the best-supported date, with moderate confidence, and note the alternatives.
2. Write a full citation for the Bible entry using the details provided, plus the access conditions you would record.
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Cartwright family Bible, published Philadelphia, 1890; handwritten 'Births' page, entry for Mary Ellen Cartwright, 12 June 1888; privately held by [client name], [city, state], 2024; digital images, [file name and format], provided to researcher [name], [date].
I would add a note that the entries appear in one hand and were reportedly made in 1905, and record the Bible's condition and pagination. If the original was not examined, I would say the citation is based on digital images and identify who supplied them.
3. How would you present the conflict in the application narrative without overstating certainty?
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In the narrative I would write: 'Mary Ellen Cartwright's birth date is recorded as 12 June 1888 in the family Bible and as 15 June 1886 on her death certificate. The 1900 census supports a birth in 1888 or 1889. The Bible entry, though made later, is the most specific family record; the death certificate informant was her son, who did not witness the birth. I have therefore used 12 June 1888 and flagged the conflict in the research notes.' That avoids claiming certainty and gives the application reviewer the reasoning.