I wrote in an earlier post about the importance of skepticism when doing genealogy/family history research. Here’s a good example. This is a death certificate I found yesterday while doing some research for a new cousin. What do you see recorded as the full name for the subject of this official death certificate? How would you transcribe this name?
The indexer for this collection saw this name as “Edith Van Connie Drury”. What did you see? Here’s what the indexer should have seen and recorded: Edith Victoria Drury.
Be cautious and tenacious when doing your research. A future fellow researcher will rise up and call you “blessed!”
BACKTRACKING THE COMMON 
I made out “Edith Victoria” right away. The surname was a little harder to decipher. “Drury” definitely works. The reason someone would see, “Van [something]” is because of the space after the third letter. I guess it helps that I have years of experience transcribing the handwriting of others.
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