Two days later, the official death certificate is being filled out. While Laura's story is fictional, the situation is not beyond the realm of plausibility. In Laura's case, many mistakes result from laziness. Errors such as these can create research difficulties and it should be remembered that a significant proportion of errors, are not the result of fraud on the part of our ancestors or various records agencies. Errors can result from outright lies on the part of our ancestors.
Errors resulting from deception can be especially difficult to sift out and detect.
Lying about age was one of the most frequent kinds of lies as it would allow individuals to marry, join the service, etc. It should be remembered that errors of this type do not constitute the majority of errors that are contained in original records used by genealogists. Lying to hide something or to change an identity did happen, but the vast majority of errors in records result from other, more innocuous reasons and can be just as difficult to reconcile. Discrepancies are still frustrating however, and can significantly hinder research efforts. Various records on my own great-grandmother, born on 1 April 1874 lists the state of Iowa, a city in Missouri, and 3 towns in Illinois, as her birthplace.