An Issue with the Death Record for William Jamison

There is an issue with the 1907/1908 Monroe County, Iowa Death Record for William Jamison, mostly concerning who exactly were the parents.

Everything we know about William and his two brothers Jonathan and Alexander, show they are the children of a William and Jane (nee "unknown") Jamieson/Jamison, from Ulster, Ireland. There are official records that show the christening and birth for each of these children in Kilera, County Londonderry with those parents and official immigration records (ships manifest[1]) that show this entire family arriving together at Philadelphia in 1851. Furthermore, there are several records and other information in western Pennsylvania and Iowa, including military records, naturalization records as well as census records and other materials, that either confirm and/or strongly suggest this all to be true. However there is one record that suggests otherwise.

There is a 1907 Death Record/Certificate[2] for William Jamison, which gives his parents as John and Anna (nee Craig) Jamison, not the expected William and Jane Jamison, as listed on Irish birth/christening records[3] and immigration records,[1] mentioned above. There does not seem to be any independent record or clue, contemporaneous or otherwise, as to corroborating or even anything remotely confirming or supporting this death certificate entry.

We do however know of a Jonathan and Anna (Craig) Jamison living in western Pennsylvania at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century, before they moved to Ohio, where they died and were buried in the late 1840s, before William had even emigrated to America (1851). This Jonathan was born in 1774, in Perry County, Pennsylvania, the son of Jonathan and Sarah (nee McFadden) Jamison, they both having emigrated from County Craven, Ireland. Jonathan's wife, Anna Craig, was born about 1780, in Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1800, where they were all living at the time. John and Anna moved to Ohio shortly after their marriage where their son Walter was born in February 1801. Jonathan and Anna both died in Harrison County Ohio, Jonathan on August 30, 1847 and Anna October 16, 1848.[4] The John and Anna (Craig) Jamison family is also well detailed on the Ulster Jam?sons website, here

There as several theories that could explain this conundrum. First and foremost is that the Death Record/Certificate is incorrect. Death records are traditionally executed by a local official, the doctor or coroner, familiar with the death. The information is almost always from an outside informant (wife, children or friend), if not personally known by the official completing the document. Death certificates are sometimes known to be in error on this very subject, based on what that informant might know or thinks is correct. This could be the case here, given that it is assumed this William Jamison lost his parents at a relatively young age and was either confused about, or never knew his parents actual names. It is also possible this Death Record/Certificate was incorrect because of a forced error, as it doesn't seemed to be officially recorded for some eight months after the actual death occurred. It might be worth noting here, that there are other problems with this Death Certificate, notably Williams date of birth is unnecessarily incomplete and the year given incorrectly as 1834, although his age in 1907 was listed (as expected) as 63, which would be correct for a birth in 1843. Both of these items suggest confusion and undermine any credibility concerning the entire document.

It is also important to note, that a contemporaneous obituary published on June 11, 1907, in the Albia Union newspaper[5], gives a more familiar accounting of his early life, specifically noting their 1851 arrival in Philadelphia and correctly naming his two brothers Jonathan and William. His parents however, were not named, suggesting perhaps that they were not known.

It is also possible that the names on this death reflects the surviving family's only recollection of any family, based on family stories or legends. The newspaper obituary mentioned above and published contemporaneously, before this final death record was completed in February of 1908, does not mention his parents by name suggesting they were not known by the family, at least at the time of his death. It is possible that John and Anna (Craig) Jameson were relatives, perhaps the reason that William's family immigrated to that part of Pennsylvania, to begin with. We may never know all the facts concerning this issue, however, what we do know is that this William Jamison cannot possibly be the son of Jonathan and Anna (Craig) Jamison.