Tombstone Tuesday: Birth Date

Dudley W. Stewart
Originally uploaded by midgefrazel

So what's a genealogist to do? This second great grandfather has no recorded birth record. Yes, I queried more than one town and spent money getting North Stonington, CT to open the old Town Hall and go through the ledger books. They didn't find it.

However, they found Dudley's father and Dudley's grandfather so that was a BIG find and worth the money I paid. I hope they didn't freeze to death in the unheated building looking. They were upset. Dudley was a selectman in this town and ran the general store during the Civil War.

I think his birth was not recorded because he was the last child born in his family and he already had two older sickly siblings. The rest were married. His mother, Rebecca, was forty when he was born. God bless her.

The family Bible gives the full date and the month and day matches the information in Wheeler's History of Stonington. Wheeler gives his birth year as 1820 but I think it is wrong. I am taking the one "cast in stone" as it fits with other record and the census years.

Analyzing all the evidence is important but still I would rather have a birth or baptismal record. You can't make up what doesn't exist.