Mr. James Davis Medlin Passes

R. Trent Briles, Curator
Briles Information Network

KINGS MOUNTAIN — James Davis Medlin, 60, of 2106 County Line Road, died July 27, 2006, at his residence. He was a native of Taswell County, Va., and the son of the late Jeff Davis and Barbra Louise Smith Medlin. FUNERAL: 2 p.m. Saturday at Revival Tabernacle Church, Mount Holly INTERMENT: Gaston Memorial Park VISITATION: 7-9 tonight at Carothers Funeral Home, Gastonia A veteran of the U.S. Navy, a member of the Revival Tabernacle Church in Mount Holly and a security guard. SURVIVORS: Wife, Claudia Elizabeth Medlin; children, Christina Langley of Gastonia, Tammy and Trent Calhoun of Wilmington, N.C., Mary Melton of Crouse, Becky and Scott McCumbee of Crouse, Grace and Rob Parker of Gastonia; sisters, Virginia Smith of Kings Mountain, Barbara Medlin of High Point, N.C., Launita Pendleton “Tootie” of Kannapolis; brother, William Medlin of Maiden, N.C.; 20 grandchildren. PRECEDED IN DEATH BY: Sister, Pansy Swink PALLBEARERS: Lester, Alex, Aaron and Castle Smith, Greg Melton and Rob Parker; honorary, Scott McCumbee OFFICIATING CLERGY: Dr. John Mayberry.- Carothers Funeral Home, Gastonia

Death Notice: Mr. Paul C. Skeen

HIGH POINT-Mr. Paul Charles Skeen, 84, passed July 19th, 2006 at High Point Regional Hospital. Funeral services will be 11 am July 22nd at Poplar Ridge Friends Meeting; Rev. Randal A. Quate officiating. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. Born November 30, 1921 in Randolph County he is a son of the late Enos Skeen and Winnie Briles Skeen. Preceded in death by his wife Hazel Jester Skeen on April 7, 2001. Survived by two children; Perry C. Skeen and his wife Linda of Thomasville and Phyllis Renn and her husband Ed of Archdale. Also survived by three grandchildren; Jimmy Weston, Jeffrey Veach and Melissa Skeen and two great grandchildren; Hannah and Yancy. Survived by two sisters; Mrs. Radie Kennedy of Trinity and Mrs. Bertie Nelson of Sophia, four step grandchildren. Family will receive friends Friday evening from 7 until 8:30 pm at Cumby Family Funeral Service Archdale.

Error on Death Certificate Leads to Grave

Stanton Harry Briles has been found!!! Well, he was there the whole time. Buried in the Victory Baptist Church Cemetery. His death certificate stated he was somewhere else. We learned a lesson with Stanton...double check your sources. Always check the DC with the obituary or a family member. Stanton's DC stated he was cremated and we took it for granted. His obituary said otherwise and we thought it was a conflict. The obit was corrected. We are happy that we found his gravesite location and the databases has been corrected to reflect the change.

Don't Always Believe What You Read...

The BIN learned a valuable lesson in the month of June. Well, actually two lessons. Don't always believe what you read and don't trust anything on the Internet. We learned that census can be wrong and also death certificates. We also learned that people who post information on the Internet can be DEAD wrong when it comes to genealogy. Case in point, the Stanton Briles Case. His death certificate stated he was cremated and not buried. While searching for gravesites, we locate his grave beside his grandchildren. Of course his obituary was correct. First lesson, always check multiple sources.

When checking lineages on the Internet, take it with a grain of salt. If it doesn't have a source, it's probably wrong. Case, the Howard Briles saga. Three different sources had Howard (same date of birth and spouse) linked to two different parents. Lesson two, VERIFY the source yourself and if you can't, don't post it on the Internet! We learned the hard way. Double check your sources and refrain from posting the information until you yourself can prove it.

Good luck with your research!!

R. Trent Briles
Curator, The BIN

Updated Spreadsheet for July, 2006

An updated Death Spreadsheet for July is ready for download. This spreadsheet contains family members who have passed and their death has been verified personally by the BIN. The BIN verifies deaths by four different ways: Death Certificates, obituaries, photos of gravesite, or verification from a genealogists. This databases lists the name of the deceased, dates of birth and death, parents and spouse's name, location of the body, and what method the death was verified. Click on this link to download the spreadsheet. NOTE: If you downloaded this spreadsheet for June, please update it by downloading the July Version. There will be a new, updated version for August as well.

Download Spreadsheet