Genealogy Chat

I've seen some wonderful errors with my families too but I suppose we tend to forget that for a lot of our ancestors birthday's were a non-event. They often had no money for the necessities of life like food. Children had to work as soon as they were able and no old age pension. The years were determined by the seasons and couldn't afford clocks, so I don't think age concerned them at all. When it got to census time I honestly don't think many of them actually knew their correct age. Then just to help matters a bit further most of them decided that just in case anyone thought of looking for them in the future........!!!!!!! But where would we be without them

How about these for age differences,the ages for my Greatx2Grandparents were given as 39 and 42 respectively in the 1851 Census.I have in my possesion the Death Certificate for my Greatx2Grandmother for 1853,which states her age at Death to be 51.My Greatx2Grandfather marries for a second time later that year,his age is given in the transcribed Parish Records for the Marriage to be 37! Regards William Russell Jones Cefn Mawr Wrexham.

Brian, Just a thought... I've come across similar census entries where the 'daughter' actually turns out to be an illegitimate grand-daughter. Regards, Hannah

pERHAPS THE RECORDER SNEEZED-rOSE

seen on my searches a person who died at the advanced age of 142 yeah right lol and i saw the image and it was no mistake lol

I have one relative who was 65 on the 1841 census when he was actually 35. That one led me up no end of blind alleys. Others seem to have varied on the censuses depending on how old they were feeling at the time!

blimey Brian they should be in the guiness book of records

And the real classic on the 1881 census: Francis Sherwood (born 1824) aged 86 Alice Sherwood (born 1833) aged 69 And their daughter Emily, aged 4.

Yes, as someone else said, we wary of the ages on census. The early ones, 1841, 51 would round the age to the nearest 5 (sometimes you end up with 3 kids all the same age, they werent triplets!). Also, on the Ancestry.com site, I have found silly transcripts showing a father only 5 years older than a teenage son. I had at first thought perhaps he was a step dad, but if you look at the actual census image you could see it was a transcription mistake and the man was 25 years older than the son! They seem to confuse a lot of 4's for 9's too.

There was a ten and a half year age gap between my parents which my mother didn't know until the wedding.Up till that point my Dad said he was 28 but confessed on the register that he was 30. My best friend married her husband at 19 who is 19 years older than her. Have to confess my partner and I gave them 6 months but 21 years and three kids later there still together.

Valerie, You are so right. I have a couple who in 1891 are aged 25 (Wife) and 60 years (Head). In 1901 they are, wife 37 years. Hubby 79 years! Then in 1908 the man died age 88, so 1901 closer to the truth. Pat

Nichola you don'tthink the son's age could be 2 and a half mis typed? Kim

god what chance do we have ? still you do meet some nice people on here

Mary Sherwood: 1851 census aged 43. Mary Sherwood 1861 census 50. James Francis Sherwood born 4/8/1859. Age on 1881 census: 19. To paraphrase Mark Twain: "There are lies, damn lies and census statistics"

no wonder I cannot find the details of my nans birth she is on the census for 1881 supposed to have been born in 1880 but there is no birth listed for her in either 1880 or 1881 makes searches so difficult

No,even the early census were not reliable for ages. They The recorder often rounded up ages to the nearest year and in some cases five years. We have such a different attirude to age now adays,it is difficult for us to appreciate just how relatively unimportant age was to our forebears. They often approximated their age. My gt-gt-grandparents begin their married life five years apart but by the 1881 Census they are exactly the same age. So don't take it too much as gospel. We just have to throw the net wider when we are doing a search. Good Luck Rose

I have the birth certificates for my maternal grandparents. Grandad was born in 1870 and grandma in 1889 - 19 year age gap. However on their marriage certificate he gave his age as 39 when he was actually 42 and she said she was 28 when she was actually only 23. He stuck to the story of being 3 years younger than he was right up till the time he was really 65 and wanted to get a pension and had to go about proving his rightful age. Even when my grandmother died my grandad had her age put on the headstone as 44 when she was actually only 42. I'm sure they just wanted to make my research more difficult. I never believe ages now without a birth certificate.

I know what you mean, have you tried the census that is more accurate I think

Hi Valerie, I have got an age difference of 16 years which I think is a big gap so I will never get any further back because I do not know which age is true although mine is for a man. and also can't even find a death certificate for him might help if I could Regards Margaret

I have found one of my lady relatives actually said she was 5 years older than she really was ,makes a change from taking years off, the only reason I can think of is she married a man of 25 and at the time she was 34 so maybe she thought he would be horrified to think she was a lot older than him