Amanuensis Monday - Sometimes Even Death Certificates Are Wrong!

This past week I have been concentrating on the LONG family, who are tied to our BEAN family through William BEAN and Rachel Wiseman BEAN's first-born child, their daughter Emily.

Emily was born in 1814 [the year after her parents were married] on Dropping Lick, near Union, in Monroe County, [West] Virginia. She married Thomas J. LONG [1810-1888] on 03 Sep 1833 in Monroe County. Emily died 15 Apr 1889 on Dropping Lick, and it is believed that she and Thomas are buried in the Bean Family Cemetery located near Waiteville, Monroe County.

Thomas and Emily had 11 known children. And of those children, only one remained a mystery to us, although we did know that he had been married twice [at least]. That enigma was Jarrett Morgan LONG. We knew he had been born 24 May 1838 in Monroe County, and that he had married [1] Mary Ann BRADLEY and [2] Malinda Adaline FISHER. Any other particulars had been lost to us [his first cousins, 2 and 3 times removed... who searched for him!].

This past week, due to a curious father, who wanted to know how a certain individual was related to us [after we'd read about his death], I began working diligently to see if this "LONG" family member might be related. And sure enough, I was able to trace the individual straight back to none other than Jarrett Morgan LONG, himself! And thus began my journey of filling in the blanks!

I did locate Jarrett Morgan's death certificate while performing this research. However, I was much disappointed to learn that while Jarrett's father was listed correctly on the death record, his mother was not!!!

Here we find that Certificate #11515 was issued in Jacox, Pocahontas County, West Virginia. That Jarrett Morgan is listed as "J.W." Long, and not as J.M.

His father is indeed listed as Thomas LONG, but his mother is listed as Mildred WOODS. Clearly an error.

Pocahontas County is indeed where Jarrett settled. As far as being buried in Jacox, I was unable to locate a cemetery. However, all Census records indicate that prior to his death, Jarrett lived with his sons on the family farm, and I am not ruling out the possibility that he might have actually been buried on the farm. If that is the case, locating the farm today, and perhaps a grave may be next to impossible if the grave was not marked properly.

However, thanks to this death record, we now know that Jarrett died on 31 Aug 1926, and the informant for the information on the death record was his son, John L. LONG.

Have you ever found incorrect information on an "official" record?

If so, how did you handle the information?

I have recorded the information exectly as written above, and that which does not match the preponderance of evidence from other records has a "[sic]" following the entry, as well as good citation and sourcing!