[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] varying dates

[Debbie]

Just wanted to comment about incorrect dates (or even names) recorded in the
church records.  My cousin was born in 1955, my sis in 1957, and I in 1959.
We were all baptized at the same rural church in North Dakota.  We were
among the last few children to be baptized at that church, so there were
only two other entries between ours.  These records were made during the
"day and age" of supposed general literacy.

My cousin's baptism entry in the church book gave the correct day of birth
and baptism, but her last name was recorded as the mother's maiden name (and
yes, the couple was married before even conception!)  My sister's entry gave
an incorrect baptism date, although her certificate reflects the correct
date.  My birthdate was given as August 8, 1959 and my birthdate is actually
August 29th.

So, I can confirm that in this instance, 3 out of 5 entries made in this
church book  contain errors.  I would love to contact the other two children
baptized in between us and see if their information is correct or not.  In
my opinion, this is not a very good error rate.

After seeing these records, I consider myself lucky to find any TWO records
on my earlier ancestor's that contain the same information!

Just FYI, in recording the dates in my Family Tree program, I alway use the
date from the record that was recorded closest to the event, although in the
case of my birthdate in the church book, that would have ended up being an
erroneous date.   I would have never known otherwise if I didn't have my
birth certificate from the hospital and my mother to confirm that the date
was incorrect.  I then record other given dates and their sources in my
notes section.

Debbie Beick