Tombstone data questionable

LBartsch

I started researching my g-g-grandparents using the dates that are on their tombstone. As time went on, I found that some of the dates are incorrect. Example…

my g-g-grandmother’s birth date on the tombstone is 5 Mai 1819. It does not match her birth record which is 7 Mai 1825. The marriage, census and emigration/immigration records confirm the year 1825.

my g-g-grandfather’s birth date on the tombstone is14 Mai 1813. It does not match his marriage, census and emigration/immigration records which show the year 1818. Also, the date of death does not match the death certificate.

this leads me to believe that I can’t put much trust in the tombstone data particularly the birth dates which makes it near impossible for me to locate my g-g-grandfather’s birth record.

Am I wrong to mistrust the tombstone data?

Robert Seal_1

Hello @LBartsch,

No, you are not wrong to question the information on a gravestone.

Tombstones are created after the death of the given person. It is surviving family members who provide this information and they can make mistakes, memories fade over time, etc. Also, the decedent in his/her lifetime may have had reasons to change their birth information/birth year for whatever reason.

In the case of the "1813" vs. "1818", is it possible that the tombstone is faded and the "1818" now looks like "1813".

A birth record created at the time of the person's birth is more likely to be correct and would take precedence over a gravestone.

Marriage, census, and emigration records provided by the person are also more accurate because these were (most likely) provided by the person himself/herself.

A good rule of thumb when a birth or death date appears to be incorrect is to search a minimum of five years on either side of the supposed date.

In the case of your g-g-grandfather, how different is the death date on the death certificate from the death date on the gravestone? If it's a day or two, I would probably accept the death certificate as the more reliable and record the gravestone date as an alternative.

When you have conflicting information about a given event, you wil need to seek out as many records as possible, evaluate what you find, and make a decision as to what you believe, based on your research and the evidence, is the correct information. Discrepant information can and should be added in a note.

Best regards, Robert Seal_1

JohnsonGreg

My wife's grandfather's tombstone is off by 5 years. Granny didn't want anyone to know she was 5 years older than him!

So yes, question tombstone dates. Sometimes surviving relatives make mistakes on birthdays and years. Sometimes a 3 and an 8 (or other numbers) can be confused when reading tombstones and so the data reported on sites like Find a Grave doesn't match the actual stone (and some old weathered stones are very hard to read).

Also be aware that dates given on sites like Find a Grave are not necessarily sourced from the stone at all. I have even seen tombstones that were not made at the time of death and were created by a later generation to honor an ancestor but have erroneous information because they didn't do good genealogy work. Then the tombstone shows up on Find a Grave and other researchers might assume the data must therefore be accurate.

LBartsch

Thank you both for your feedback and confirmation. I suspect that it was a combination of things. My g-g-grandparents obfuscating their ages, children not knowing the correct data and a miscommunication between the undertaker and the monument fabricator. The undertaker misspelled my g-g-grandfather’s first name and that’s how it appears on the tombstone.

so, now I’m looking for a man somewhere in Germany born sometime between 1810 and 1820. Hahahaha