This post was going to be all about the Henry W. Schmidt/Smith Family Bible Records, but I got sidetracked when I discovered a discrepancy concerning the birthdate of Henry William Smith. This is the son of Francis "Frank" Michael Schmidt and Catherine Amarella Wilson, and husband of Hattie Maude Jack. My records indicated that Henry W. was born Feb. 2, 1877. The Henry William Smith Family Bible, in two separate entries, lists his birthdate as Jan. 2, 1877. This made me curious, so I consulted Ancestry.com and found that 4 out of five Family Trees had the Feb 2, 1877 birthdate. Upon further investigation I found his WWI Draft Registration that clearly states his birthdate as "January 1, 1877." Then I looked him up in the 1900 census, because the 1900 census provides the month and year of birth, unlike earlier censuses which only give the age and leave the researcher to estimate the year of birth. He is listed as being 23 years old, living with his parents in Pusheta Twp, Auglaize Co, OH in 1900. His month/year of birth is listed as Jan/1877. I then went looking for a birth record in the Auglaize Co, OH Official Birth Records. I found him listed on a page where the first half of the entries on the page had Month/Day/Year but Henry William Schmidt was on the half of the page that the clerk, apparently, felt that only the year was important, so it only records his birthdate as 1877. Then I went to his marriage record. It also states clearly that "Henry W. Smith is 26 years of age, on the second day of January, 1903." I have not been able to find his death certificate online, but as all other official documents support the Jan 2, 1877 date given in the Family Bible Records, I think we should feel confident in using Jan 2, 1877 as Henry William Schmidt/Smith's birthdate. Next time, I'll share the contents of the Schmidt Family Bible as I transcribed them.