Meet my great-great-grandfather Francis M Manning. He was a confederate soldier out of Alabama. Notice is birthdate of 18 May 1817. I have documentation that does NOT agree with his birth date:
- 1850 Franklin Co GA states he is 22 years old (abt 1828) born GA
- 1860 Shelby Co AL states he is 28 years old (abt 1832) born TN
- 1880 Muhlenberg Co KY states he is 55 years old ( abt 1825) born GA
Above is his wife, Emily E Kitchens, her birthdate is marked as 18 Jan 1818 but, like her husbands headstone, I do not believe this date is correct. It is more like she was born about 1829.
In a previous post I spoke about the difference in primary versus secondary information. The birthdate on a headstone is a great example! The event that spurred her headstone is death and if the headstone was issued at that time, the date should be correct because it is primary information. However, the birth date is secondary information because it happened many years prior. In fact, the folks responsible for the information on this headstone more than likely were not around to witness her birth.
Similarly, when there is a delay in making/setting a headstone, the possibility of misinformation grows with the length of the time delay (in the absence of an original document such as a death certificate).
James John Manning (above) is the son of the Francis & Emily Manning (the two headstones previously pictured). His first wife's, Sarah MaryAnn Whittaker, headstone is picture below. She has one of those Woodsman of the World monuments that you can find around the south. Her son (not pictured in this post) does as well. After Sarah died JJ (as he was known) remarried but I have not located her grave.
JJ & Sarah had 6 documented children. One of there children was my grandfather, Andrew Jackson Manning. He married Rose Cleo Truxler in Lawrence County Arkansas in 1910. My dad, Carl Richard Manning, was born to them on 14 Oct 1928 and departed this life on 8 Jan 2010. He is interned with his third wife Bessie Burrows. I am an only child but my dad loved a big family and enjoyed his 6 stepchildren and all their children and grandchildren.
My dad, wanting to ensure that I was buried next to him, bought and placed a headstone for my husband and me for my birthday present one year. He didn't think that was weird at all! (I did not post a photo because I didn't want to display our dates of birth on the internet.)
