Be careful when using tombstone information in lew of vital records.

I'm sure most of my readers are aware that tombstones can contain erroneous information from time-to-time. Personally I prefer a vital record (aka death certificate) if it is available as a primary record for someone's death event. But in many cases as we go back in time that will not be possible. But you should use tombstone information with a grain of salt. Case in point below is the tombstone of Joe Rob Redus.

Joe Rob Redus was the son of John Clement Redus Sr. and Hazel Ann Slater. According to the tombstone picture posted to his Find-A-Grave memorial # 28257374. He was born 14 Apr 1929 in Medina County, Texas and according to his tombstone died 12 July 1929. But that is not the entire story. The Texas death certificate tells us something different.

The death certificate  above shows that Joe Rob died at 10:15 pm 10 Jul 1929 and was buried the next day 11 Jul 1929. Bottom line the death certificate should be the primary document used in any lineage and the tombstone should be documented with the exceptions noted above.