Anomalies

Genealogical anomalies seem to abound in the historical record regarding missionaries to China. How is it that Bertha Dixon, in her book "Romance of Faith," says that she and her husband William T. Dixon departed from San Francisco in December 1909 and that their return to the United States was occasioned by the death of their two children in 1911? The 1910 census taken in April of 1910 lists Bertha and family present and accounted for at the Training School for Christian Workers in California. How then can the Dixons be in China and California at the same time? I am not sure how this can be. And why is it that no passenger lists appear proving that Bertha and family ever returned to California by sea? Can it be that they never did to go China and that the "Romance" described in her book is all a careful construction of chitter chatter and gossip and things heard of? And why would Azusa Pacific University, which that school later became, list biographical information about her if her book did not have something of value to say? Yes, all these matters for trivial pursuit are everywhere. And if Philip Barth died in China in 1911 how can he be buried in that Los Angeles cemetery?  I like the game of Trivial Pursuit but not as a full-time job. I cannot afford to sit around nibbling on these little clues when I have a job to do. Obviously someone has already solved these little puzzles anyway so I do not need to reinvent the wheel. My services are not needed and I have better things to do anyway. Like my Dad always said, I must use my head for more than just a hatrack.