"My grandfather was born 4 Jul 1897 in Simcoe, Ontario."
Source: transcription of Baptism Register, St. Paul's Church, Simcoe, Ontario (entry number 132). Found in the Archives of the Norfolk Historical Society, 109 Norfolk Street South, Simcoe, Ontario, Canada on 22 Mar 2009 .

"My grandfather married my grandmother 20 Jun 1920."
Source: Simcoe Reformer newspaper, 22 Jul 1920 issue, marriage announcement." Found on microfilm reel 223 at the Eva Brook Donly Museum in Simcoe, on 22 Mar 2009 .

"Gramp died 11 Nov 1974 in Simcoe, Ontario"
Sources: (a) his obituary, Simcoe Reformer newspaper, 15 Nov 1974 issue, page 7, says he died on the 11th. (b) his Oakwood Cemetery stone, visited by John Cardiff, 16 Sep 2000, does not include precise dates. 

"Gramp was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Simcoe, Ontario"
Source: Cemetery visit by John Cardiff, 16 Sep 2000."

"Gramp never smoked."
Source: Deduction by John Cardiff on 23 Mar 2003, who never saw his grandfather smoke in the 29 years (1945-1974) they shared.

"Gramp enjoyed playing with his grandchildren."
Source: First-Hand Account of his grandson John Cardiff, on 9 Mar 2003 who along with his sister and cousins was raised nearby and visited back and forth all the time.

This list of examples is fictitious and imperfect. But my reader now knows both what I claim and my authority for claiming it. Sources can and do cover your backside. If the typesetter at the Simcoe Reformer typeset the marriage announcement erroneously, at least my reader knows why I goofed.

Newspaper accounts are "Secondary" or second-hand sources. In all likelihood the typesetter had no first-hand knowledge of the event. He just set the type he was told by his boss, who got a handwritten list from the registry office.

Always, always try to find a "Primary" source -- an eye-witness account, the official certificate of birth, marriage or death. (Are cemetery stones primary or secondary sources?)

"Primary" sources are best. "Secondary" sources are second-best. Others are worse. Family lore (stories that are passed down through generations from memory) is a good place to start, but they are a lousy place to end up.

Family lore says one of my great-grandfathers was a Methodist preacher. But the 1881 census lists him as a carpenter. For all I know, he was neither or both. How would you document him?

I included both, explained one account was undocumented family lore collected from my father and his cousin in 1993, and that the other was found in the 1881 census of Chicago, Ill., in 1997.

(Often erronous cemetery stones are secondary sources.)

For more on documenting your sources, search the web.

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