Emerson Claude Smith's profile can be found here. The details below describe the analysis for how I determined his date of birth from conflicting information.
Details/Background:
There are conflicting dates of birth given for Emerson Claude Smith’s date of birth.
Most sources concur with a date of 13th October 1881, although one source suggests 14th October 1881, one 23rd November 1881 and still another 1883.
Analysis:
| Reference | Description | Date of Birth Given | Notes |
| D04797 | Birth Registration | 14 October 1881 | |
| D04734 | 1891 Census | ca 1883 | Age 8 in 1891 |
| D04735 | 1901 Census | 13 October 1881 | |
| D04736 | 1911 Census | October 1881 | |
| D04798 | WW1 Attestation Papers | 13 October 1881 | |
| D04799 | WW1 Service Record | 13 October 1881 | |
| D04804 | Gravestone | ca 1881 | Age 36 in 1917 |
| D04351 | Family gravestone | ca 1881 | Age 36 in 1917 |
| D04805 | Newspaper Article, 1917 | 23 November 1881 |
The two big outliers are the 1891 census [D04734] which puts his birthdate at about 1883 and the 1917 Flesherton Advance article [D04805] which gives his birthdate as 23 November 1881. All other sources are consistent with a birthdate of October 1881.
The newspaper article was written in 1917 and newspapers are notorious for reporting incorrect details, so I’m going to rule that out as incorrect. Census records are also notorious for errors and so I’m going to rule that one out as incorrectly reported information.
So, the remaining sources all point to 1881 as the year of birth, and most of them October as the month. All the sources that give dates suggest 13 October 1881, except for the birth registration [D04797], which suggests 14 October 1881 as the date. The service record information [D04799] is derived from the same source as the attestation papers [D04798] and therefore would not be an independent source.
This would suggest that either the birth registration has the correct date of birth, but Emerson grew up thinking that his date of birth was the 13th or that the birth registration information was recorded incorrectly.
Normally, the birth registration information would be the one that I would rely on more because it was given the closest to the actual event, but in this case it seems like there is more information to support a date of birth of 13th October 1881.
Conclusion:
The most likely date of birth for Emerson Claude Smith is 13th October 1881.
Sources:
[D04351] Flesherton Cemetery (Flesherton, Grey, Ontario). Rec. Date: 9 Oct 2018. ID: D04351. Cit. Date: 9 Oct 2018.
[D04734] 1891 census of Canada, Ontario, district 69, sub-district 3, Artemesia, p. 43, family 209; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry (accessed 15 Oct 2018). Rec. Date: 30 Sep 2017. Cit. Date: 15 Oct 2018.
[D04735] 1901 census of Canada, Ontario, district 66, sub-district A-5, Artemesia, p. 14, dwelling 126, family 126; RG 31; digital images(accessed 15 Oct 2018). Rec. Date: 4 Mar 2017. Cit. Date: 15 Oct 2018.
[D04736] 1911 census of Canada, Ontario, district 72, sub-district 4, Eugenia, p. 7, dwelling 70, family 70; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry.com (accessed 20 Oct 2018). Rec. Date: 18 Mar 2017. Cit. Date: 20 Oct 2018.
[D04797] Ontario Archives of Ontario, MS 929, reels 1-245, MS929; Reel: 48: 8357, 26; digital image, Ancestry.com, "Ontario, Canada Births," (25 Oct 2018). Rec. Date: 21 Apr 2017. Cit. Date: 25 Oct 2018.
[D04798] Canada, "WWI CEF Attestation Papers, 1914-1918," Attestation Papers: Emerson Claude Smith; digital images, Ancestry.ca(accessed 11 Nov 2018). Rec. Date: 11 Nov 2018. Cit. Date: 11 Nov 2018.
[D04799] Canada, "Emerson Claude Smith WW1 Military Service Record"; digital images, Library and Archives Canada(accessed 27 Dec 2018). Rec. Date: 27 Dec 2018. ID: D04799. Cit. Date: 27 Dec 2018.
[D04804] Petit-Vimy British Cemetery ( Vimy, Departement du Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, Vimy, France), Plot c.9. Rec. Date: 25 Oct 2018. ID: D04804. Cit. Date: 25 Oct 2018.
[D04805] "Claude Emerson Smith," Flesherton Advance, 16 Aug 1917, p. 1, col. 2; digital images(accessed 2 Nov 2018), Grey Highlands Newspapers. Rec. Date: 2 Nov 2018. Cit. Date: 2 Nov 2018.
