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When
the current County Coordinators took over this web site, the
birth data contained about 8000 records with no sources listed.
We are presently working on adding the source information and
adding births from the newspapers. It is likely that there were
between 30 and 40 thousand births during the period of county
inception through 1900.
It must be noted that unless the
source column indicates that it is an official Madison County
birth record, the source data only confirms that the person was
born in Madison County and does not verify the exact date.
Although official birth records
began in the 1880s, keeping accurate birth records was not taken
seriously until a little after the turn of the century. Before
1900, births reported in the various county newspapers were a
hit or miss proposition. In looking at all available data
sources, and in particular the censuses, it is obvious that many
births went unreported. The County Coordinators have elected to
add "Unverified" births to this list in the cases were
it appears that births probably occurred in Madison County but
have no credible source data. |
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