Lineage assessment 01
Was Mary Estelle Sledge the mother of James Lawrence Meason born in 1934?
His contemporaneous Texas birth certificate names Mary Estelle Sledge as his mother.
Evidence type: direct
What the sources contribute
supports
The original birth certificate directly names the mother.[75]
supports
The derivative statewide birth index repeats the full parent name.[74]
context
The 1940 Richardson household associates Mary with young Jimmie.[76]
supports
The 1973 original death certificate independently names Mary Sledge as Jimmy’s mother.[56]
Research and reasoning
Records examined
- 1934 birth certificate
- Statewide birth index
- 1940 household
- 1973 death certificate
Limit: The certificate image is not cleared for public reproduction; the index is derivative of the same birth event.
The contemporaneous birth certificate directly names Mary Estelle Sledge; his later original death certificate independently repeats Mary Sledge as mother. The birth index derives from the same birth event, and the 1940 household is supporting context.
Current conclusion
The correlated original records establish Mary Estelle Sledge as Jimmy’s mother.