--- title: Read the problem; Trust, but verify description: My father, the MIT graduate, used to try to tutor me in math. image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Register-page-606x1024-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Read the problem; Trust, but verify [April 16, 2015](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/04/read-the-problem-trust-but-verify) [Early New England Families Study Project](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/early-new-england-families-study-project), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [Object Lessons](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/object-lessons), [Research tips](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips) [Alicia Crane Williams](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/acwilliams) [![Click on Register page to enlarge.](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Register-page-606x1024-1.jpg?width=300&height=507&name=Register-page-606x1024-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/Register-page-1.jpg) Click on [ Register](http://www.americanancestors.org/databases/new-england-historical-and-genealogical-register/about) page to enlarge. My father, the MIT graduate, used to try to tutor me in math. His most frequent frustration was getting me to remember to “read the problem.” All the answers were there, he claimed, if I understood the problem. Alas, I never conquered math, but the advice is applicable to genealogy. When I was writing the Early New England Families sketch on Hilliard Veren, whose wife, Mary, was remembered in the will of her mother, Jane (Slade) (Conant) Searle, I cited the abstract of the will published in *The New England Historical and Genealogical Register* 52 (1898):271 *(at left),* which gives the date of the will as 1 May 1665. Apparently, I neglected to read the entire abstract and note that the date of probate was given as 20 June *1658*. ­­­­ In the case of Mary (Conant) Veren, the 1665 date for her mother’s will did not raise a red flag, since she lived well beyond that date, but the flags came out with her sister, Jane (Conant) (Holgrave) Mason, wife first of Joshua Holgrave and second of Elias Mason. Jane Searle’s will left a bequest to her daughter Jane Mason in New England, but Jane Mason died in 1661. The temptation might be to conclude that the mother, in England, did not know her daughter had died four years before she wrote her will, but that type of assumption is always dangerous. Remembering Dad’s advice, I went back to the item in the *Register* and this time read *all* of it. With some further diligence, I found the full transcript of Jane Searle’s will in *Essex Institute Historical Collections*, 52 (1916):51, which gives the year of her will as *1655*, and the date it was proved as *29 *June *1655*. Next, undoubtedly influenced by current news and my father’s admiration for Ronald Reagan, I remembered the president’s quote, “Trust, but verify.” The failure to read the whole problem was mine, but the fact that the source was published in the *Register* undoubtedly encouraged my omission. The *Register’s *169 years of publication is renowned for its excellence, but, of course, that doesn’t mean it is, or ever has been, perfect. Does that mean we can trust nothing, even in a “trusted” source, and have to verify *everything* from scratch? To be continued. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/04/read-the-problem-trust-but-verify](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/04/read-the-problem-trust-but-verify) - - - More - - ![Alicia Crane Williams](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Williams_Alicia.jpg) ## About Alicia Crane Williams Alicia Crane Williams, FASG, Lead Genealogist of Early Families of New England Study Project, has compiled and edited numerous important genealogical publications including The Mayflower Descendant and the Alden Family “Silver Book” Five Generations project of the Mayflower Society. Most recently, she is the author of the 2017 edition of The Babson Genealogy, 1606-2017, Descendants of Thomas and Isabel Babson who first arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1637. Alicia has served as Historian of the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants, Assistant Historian General at the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and as Genealogist of the Alden Kindred of America. She earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in History from Northeastern University.[View all posts by Alicia Crane Williams →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/acwilliams) [← Finding Revolutionary War Ancestors](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/04/finding-revolutionary-war-ancestors) [Indexing your family history →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2015/04/indexing-your-family-history) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? 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