Maiden Name: SMITH
5. Color: WHITE
I posted the 1901 death certificate, obtained by Isaac Seaver's third wife, Alvina (Bradley) (Lewis) Seaver after Isaac died in order to obtain Isaac's Civil War Pension, in Treasure Chest Thursday - Lucretia (Smith) Seaver's Death Record. I thought this was interesting to see how the format of a death record provided in 1901 looks significantly different to that which are provided in more recent times. The information is the same, however!
The one interesting thing I saw on this death certificate was the age at death - 56 years, 6 months, 18 days. For the death date of 24 March 1884, that works out to a birth date of 6 September 1827. The Medfield, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 book notes that Lucretia was born on 6 September 1828.
The quandary now is did the informant, presumably her husband, Isaac Seaver, mis-state the year either from personal knowledge or from a record?
The Original source for the birth record is the handwritten Medfield Town Clerk's entry in the record book using information provided by someone, probably Lucretia's father, soon after her birth. This record is Primary Information and Direct Evidence.
The town book record of the birth was then transcribed into the Vital Records of Medfield, Massachusetts To the End of the Year 1849 book published in 1903. This book is a Derivative Source with Primary Information and Direct Evidence.
The Death Certificate above is a Derivative Source (the record was not made contemporaneously with the birth event), Secondary Source (relied on information provided by an informant who was not present for the event) and Indirect Evidence (I had to calculate the birth date from the age at death) for Lucretia's birth date.