Verify

Do you research collateral lines and their descendants? If so, do you do exhaustive research of those descendants? I have to admit that I research descendants but I’m not doing exhaustive research. Basically, I’m looking for census records that support family connections, vital records, Find a Grave info, obituaries and military information. For the most part, that means evaluating the Ancestry hints for a person.

I’ve recently been researching the descendants of Henry Evans and his wife Mary Elizabeth Thompson. I believe Henry is the son of my 4th great grandparents: James Evans and Sarah (Sally) Garret. And I believe that Mary is the daughter of my 4th great grandparents: John Thompson and Sarah Iglehart. If so, that makes the children double cousins.

While this research helps me to identify DNA matches and to connect with other researchers, it is time consuming. Thus, I don’t do exhaustive research. For the most part, if a source seems consistant with other sources and what I know about the family, I accept the source.

Today, I ran into a situation which illustrates why I should be more diligent in verifying the information from a source. While researching Cecil Price [LVPK-8K9], great grandson of Henry and Mary Evans, one of the Ancestry hints was for the database U.S. Obituary Collection, 1930-Current. According to this database, the obituary for Cecil Price was published in Lincoln, Nebraska and named six children:

Child	Nancy Price Alan Kaiser Tami Kaiser Glenda Price Vince Price Craig Price

Trying to figure out whether Alan and Tami Kaiser were step-children, I decided to look for the original obituary. The 13 Jan 2005 issue of the Lincoln Journal Star contains an obituary for Cecil R. Price.

Cecil R. Price

Callaway

Cecil R. Price, 84, Callaway, widower of Eunice, died Monday (1/10/05) in Kearney. Born, Superior, Wis. Retired meat inspector, USDA, Veteran, World War II, Pacific Theater.

Survivors: sons, Craig, Vince, both Lincoln; daughter Tami Kaiser, Lincoln; sister, Martha Belle Haneline, Fremont; six grandchildren; one great-granddaughter.

Services: 1:30 p.m. Friday, Callaway United Methodist Church. Rose Hill Cemetery, Callaway. Visitation: 5-8 p.m. today, Timm-Reynolds-Love-Funeral Home, Callaway. Memorials to Callaway District Hospital.

“Cecil R. Price,” Lincoln Journal Star (Lincoln, Nebraska), 13 January 2005, page 10; digital image, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 17 April 2023).

While this obituary identifies Tami Kaiser as a daughter it does not identify Nancy Price or Glenda Price. It also does not include Alan Kaiser. Thus, the information in the database record does not match the obituary from the suggested source.

My search of Newspapers.com also had a link to an obituary in an Omaha, Nebraska paper. That obituary identifies all of the people listed as children in the database.

Price — Cecil R., age 84, Callaway, Ne. Survived by sons, Craig and wife, Glenda Price, Vince and wife, Nancy Price, all of Lincoln, NE; daughter, Tami, and husband, Alan Kaiser, Lincoln, NE; sister, Martha Belle Haneline, Fremont, NE; 8 grandchildren; 1 great-granddaughter. Funeral Services Friday 1:30 pm at the Callaway United Methodist Church in Callaway, NE. Burial with Military Honors in Rose Hill Cemetery in Callaway, NE. Visitation Thursday 5 pm – 8 pm at the Funeral Home.

Timm-Reynolds-Love Funeral Home
Callaway, NE

“Price,” Omaha World-Herald (Omaha, Nebraska), 13 January 2005, page 16; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 17 April 2023).

Now, I know that Cecil Price only had three children. The additional names in the obituary database are for his son-in-law and daughters-in-law. I’d have never figured this out without these obituaries and likely would have added daughters Nancy Price and Glenda Price to his family.

Thus, I’ve learned to try and locate an original record versus depending on a database.

Note: I also located the funeral home obituary on Legacy.com for Cecil Price.