[or-roots] Intro

[Kathy Thomas]

I am very new to genealogy and just starting to search my husband's family.
I want to introduce myself since I will be lurking - to learn and gather
resources.  Unfortunately or fortunately, our names are very common so there
may be other relatives, but they will be hard to find!

My husband's father is James Clinton Thomas 1925-1994, born in Portland to
Percy Clinton Thomas 1902-1972 and Nina Agnes (nee Taylor) Thomas 1903-1925,
who died shortly after he was born.  The Taylors and Thomas's lived across
the street from one another in the 1920 census and I was able to identify
two brothers for her: Spencer V and Robert W.  All of these folks are
deceased and I have found no information regarding children or marraiges.

Percy remarried, to Gladness Marie Murray and bought a dairy farm (small)
near Tigard when his father (Clinton, mother Julia nee Mathews) died.  They
helped to raise three of his brother Harry's children, after Harry and his
wife Nellie died.

The elder Thomas's were railroading folks and their children were born all
across the northern US - he was a yardmaster in Portland in 1920 and worked
all his life for the railroad.  The Taylors children were all born in
Michigan but the parents were from England.  I haven't been successful
finding dates or any other information than what you see here.

I have a question for those who might know (plus any advice is certainly
welcome!)  When information is conflicting, as in death certificates showing
birth places differently than other documents, how do you resolve it?  Keep
it open until you find an actual record?
The reason I ask is that on James' birth certificate it has a different
place of birth for his mother and father than on his mother's death cert -
and they were done about 6 weeks apart.

Thanks for letting me participate.

Kathy Thomas
Denver Colorado
kgt at attbi.com