Can we believe anything we read on BMD certificates

[bugbear]

Just because something is written down, it doesn't mean it is correct.  Mistakes happen, people lie, or they tell what they think is right but it isn't.

I've found errors/lies on gravestones, bmd certs, parish registers, Wills, you name it! 
 

Agreed - people are very sniffy about assumptions, deductions and guesses, but even "proper" first hand, signed certificates aren't 100% certain. It's ALL shade of grayl, and anything you have is only ever a "best current approximation" to the unknowable absolute truth.

 BugBear

[iolaus]

I only found out the correct information when the vaccination records became available. These are the type of records you can use to substantiate your research. They also give the name of the person who brought the child to get vaccinated.

How do you access these?

[Ayashi]

I've found a few transcription errors on BMD certs, like the wrong middle name being written, the wrong year of a marriage (the index confirms its wrong) and it makes you wonder what is wrong that you don't realise is wrong...

Family rumour can be complete baloney- one story said my great great grandfather came from Merthyr Tydfil and I've never worked out why- he came from near Carmarthen. Another said another 2xgt came from Ireland, I proved he was born in Northumberland.

As for records of any type, I tend to also go by the motto that if something seems slightly iffy, that's because it usually is. If you've got a niggle that something stinks, keep poking.

[panda40]

Hi Iolaus
The vaccination records were made available via a local village family history group who have done detailed research into their village. I would suggest you contact the local society for the ares you Re researching. So you can see the information available I have provided the link below
http://woodchurchancestry.org.uk/wavaccinations/index.html

Regards panda

[bugbear]

Family rumour can be complete baloney-  ...

I always liked a comment on a railway program by Pete Waterman - he said the Flying Scotsman must have had the biggest footplate in the world, to accommodate all the people whose family history said they drove it...

 

But conversely, family history often has a grain of truth (even when hideously distorted) and can help solve the "unknown unknowns" problem.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns

    BugBear

[Ayashi]

I think the issue gets worse if there are other family historians in the mix! My much older cousin (I call everyone cousins lol) started the whole Irish thing because he couldn't find a birth and the surname was "Brady". I think he searched for several decades in Ireland... It took me a couple of years to prove that the guy wasn't born Brady and the family is in Northumberland many gens back from him, although honestly if I'd checked one census I didn't the first time round, would have solved it in a night!

Another cousin said her grandmother must have been born Jane Ann and later changed to Ellen because she missed a christening in the original records that I later found online.

A lot of the time, the longer a person researches or otherwise the lazier the recipient, the more likely information or speculation is to be written down as gospel.

[Guy Etchells]

Just because something is written down, it doesn't mean it is correct.  Mistakes happen, people lie, or they tell what they think is right but it isn't.

I've found errors/lies on gravestones, bmd certs, parish registers, Wills, you name it! 
 

I often wonder what this mason was thinking when he carved this stone.

http://anguline.co.uk/hto/trP1010001.htm

Or was it perhaps Yorkshire used a different calendar to the rest of the UK.
Or perhaps 1898 was a leap, leap, leap year.
Cheers
Guy

[msr]

I've found a few transcription errors on BMD certs, like the wrong middle name being written, the wrong year of a marriage (the index confirms its wrong) and it makes you wonder what is wrong that you don't realise is wrong...

I'm slightly puzzled, so would you please help my tired brain Ayashi.  I can't quite work out the above.    You say the wrong year of a marriage is on a certificate, confirmed by the index.   I'm not sure what it is you are saying, perhaps you could offer a longer explanation if you wouldn't mind.

Susan

[stanmapstone]

I only found out the correct information when the vaccination records became available. These are the type of records you can use to substantiate your research. They also give the name of the person who brought the child to get vaccinated.

How do you access these?

If you go to http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=vaccination you can see what vaccination records are held across the country
Vacinator's Registers http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_p=1800&_hb=oth&_q=vaccinator%27s+register
Stan