Mistakes and How They Spread

I've been doing a good bit of research into some of the Gregg lines besides my own lately and recently, while searching for the name of Elsie Gregg's husband, I found a ridiculous number of records online in Rootsweb's World Connect that showed that she married first a Mr. Eves, and then second, Willard S. Gregg. Since I had just found the death record for Willard online, which clearly showed his wife as Emma and his parents as Samuel Gregg and Margaret Chandler, I knew there had to be a mistake, especially since Samuel and Margaret just happen to be Elsie's parents as well. By no particular surprise, none of the World Connect records happened to list a source for this particular mess, but it wasn't hard to figure out where it started - the infamous Hazel May Middletown Kendall book on William Gregg's descendant. Sure enough, on page 167, the mistake was there.

Kendall lists the children of Samuel and Margaret as follows:

(1) Elsie, m(1) ____ Eves, m (2) Willard S. Gregg, had Eleanor m. ___ Barnar, Elizabeth C.

(2) Elizabeth G., m (1) ____Wilson, m (2) Irwin W. Gregg, had Gertrude, Elwood

(3) Joseph C. Gregg, m (1) Sarah Gregg, m (2) Josephine Gregg, had Helen Gregg m. Henry Wilson, had Margaret m. ___Hancy, and Mary Hope

So, let's set the record straight, using information found on the death certificates and census records for this family group: 

Elsie was the oldest child, born 9/21/1868, m. Henry Eves, and died 3/21/1927. She was buried with Henry at Lower Brandywine Presbyterian, as he died later that same year.

Willard S. came next, born on 5/15/1870, m. Emma in 1894, and died 12/11/1951, a widower. 

Before I move on to the rest of the children, I need to point out that the transcription on Ancesrtry for the 1880 Census shows Daniel rather than Samuel on the record, but the actual image shows Samuel. On that census listing, we see:

Daniel Gregg M 37

Magie A. Gregg F 32

Elsie Gregg F 10

Willard S. Gregg M 9

Lizie Gregg F 7

Irwin W. Gregg M 5