Genealogical record errors require cross-checking against family oral memory

Evidence

Rich listed all of Ophelia and Renty Taylor Thompson’s children included on the 1900 census, starting with Lena, who was twenty-one, and ending with Fred, who was then four. I knew Fred’s full name was Frederick Douglass Thompson, but those who loved him all affectionately called him Fed. He was my maternal grandfather. I stumbled on Lena, as I knew this was an error. Fed’s elder sister was named Tena after her mother. All the other information was correct, and so I assumed that this, like my mother’s birth certificate, was one of many typos and errors I would find throughout my search. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 192