Ancestor of the Day for 31 May – or maybe not? Here is why everything we know should be taken with a grain of salt and why it’s so important to keep looking for original supporting sources associated with the time of an event where possible. My great grand aunt Antonette Wilhelmsdatter (oldest sister of my great grandmother Augusta Wilhelmsdatter Onstad, and called “Aunt Netta” by grandmother Alma Onstad Blixrud) is listed in several places as having a birthdate of 31 May 1847. This is on her gravestone, as well as on the ELCA church record of her burial on 04 Sept 1916. Yet the gravestone and the ELCA church record both have a death date of 02 Oct.
Today I found the Østre Toten, Norway, church record for her baptism on 25 July 1847, and it lists her date of birth as 10 July! I think. A little hard to read, but nonetheless it’s definitely not 31 May.
To verify the death date, I turned to Grandma Alma’s diary for 1916. Sure enough, she references Aunt Netta’s funeral on 04 Oct, which she did not attend as she was expecting her first child in a couple of weeks:
Wednesday October 4. Made a nightgown for myself. Aunt Netta’s funeral.
So, one has to not only find records but evaluate the potential accuracy even if dates appear to be (literally) carved in stone. I would trust the baptismal entry made at the time of the event more than someone’s recollection years later. And I trust Grandma’s notes as confirmation of the date of death; it’s possible whoever was recording the parish funerals was a bit distracted as the listing below Antonette’s also has a death date in October but the funeral date in September!