Talk:Claire Merritt Ruth

Fair use rationale for Image:RuthClaire1930.jpg
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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:57, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Birth year
There seems to be conflicting information about the birth year for Claire Merritt. The birth year was changed by an anonymous editor on 30 January 2010 from 1897 to 1900. The source for this change was the headstone of Claire Merritt. This contradicts US census records. I have included a link to the 1900 US census; however, due to inaccurate records it is probably not sufficient to be sure of the birth year without further explanation.

The closest match to Claire Merritt is Clara Merrett, whose parents are listed as James M Merrett and Cornelia L Merrett. This records her birth in September 1897 in Georgia. The 1910 census suggests that this is the right person as Clara Merritt changes to Clarra Merritt, whose parents are listed as James M Merritt and Carry Merritt. The 1920 census adds further evidence as Clara Hodgson is now listed with Carrie Merritt as her parent. There is a further complication because both the 1910 and 1920 census list Claire Merritt's birth year as 1898.

I have changed the birth year back to 1897 as I think the 1900 census is most likely to be accurate. A change of some sort was also necessary because the last sentence of the article does not make sense in its current form: "Claire Ruth is buried next to her husband at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. The inscription on the headstone lists her birth year as 1900, instead of 1897." There was no prior mention of 1897 in the article before my change. Od (talk) 19:09, 8 February 2012 (UTC)