Okey Anise Church revisited

Not too long ago I wrote about official records containing errors … specifically regarding Okey Anise Church.  I made a good case why I believed that the Carl Church recorded in the Calhoun County, West Virginia, birth register was actually Anise – and I still believe it is.  HOWEVER … I've now found yet another wrinkle in this whole thing that really makes me scratch my head in wonder.

There is a birth record for Okey Anise Church born on 14 May 1897 to Eli Church and Nora Summers in Pennsboro, Ritchie County, West Virginia.  All of the info is correct – except for the county!

A note on the Ritchie County record which comes from an “Index and Register of Delayed Reports of Births” states:  "This record made from photostatic copy from Div. of Vital Stat., Charleston, W.Va. File No. 30942, recorded Aug. 24, 1943."  Yep, a 1943 recording of an 1897 birth counts as delayed in my mind.

As sources go, the document created closest to the actual event date is generally considered to be the best and most accurate source.  As we all know, the passage of time leads to failing memories – so the longer the time period between an event and the recording of that event … the more likely it is that errors will occur.  Using that criteria, one would put more credence on the Calhoun County birth record.

Let's take a look at all the pieces of this puzzle so far …

In support of Calhoun County:

• Register of Births – timely recording
• WWI draft registration – info per Anise himself
• Certificate of Death – informant was Anise's wife, Eula
• According to his sister (my grandmother), Nellie Church Kuhn.  Couple this with the fact that his parents were married in Calhoun County, Anise was the first child, and the next two (Vella and Nellie) were also born in Calhoun County.

In support of Ritchie County:

• Index and Register of Delayed Reports of Birth – delayed recording
• Marriage License – informant was Anise

The marriage license is the thing that really puzzles me.  Almost everything listed above points to Calhoun County and the delayed report of birth is questionable; but why would Anise say in 1918 (draft registration) that he was born in Calhoun County then say in 1926 (marriage license) that he was born in Ritchie County???