RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: anne on Saturday 27 March 04 19:43 GMT (UK)
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Was it common place in the 1800s for people to lie about their age on the marriage certificate.My mother was shocked when i purchased my Grt Grandmothers marriage certificate,she was always told that Grt Grandfather was about 5 years older than Grt Grandmother.When i found a census record for my Grt Grandfather it actually showed he was 10 years older could this be right.Anne.
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I have had a lot of problems finding people because their ages are right. My greatgrandfather was listed in the 1881 census as being 60 at his death three years later he was 63 which seemed to confirm he was born 1820 wrong he was actually born 1815 soyou have to be vary wary of ages
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Yes, Like you Anne, I have had terrible trouble trying to find my GG-Grandfather's birth in Australia. He came to britain and married in c1871 and gave his DoB as 1846. He stuck to this through every census, but the only birth with his name in Adelaide is 1841.
Is he mine? He does not have a marriage or death record in Australia, leading me to suspect that as he was marrying a 24 year old woman in Bristol, he may have knocked 5 years off. 25 sounds much better than 30 for a marriage in the C19th. :)
I still haven't claimed the birth record as mine, but I suspect it is. But how to proove it?
Kazza.
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Thankyou both very much,i think that answers my question.Thanks again Anne.
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Ages can never be trusted on documents. Some simply didnt know the years in which they were born; others seem to have given it from the date of their christening (in some cases years after they were born) others simply fudged. I had an aunt who knocked off a few years when she married her husband. Consequently all her siblings (in order to maintain the ruse, knocked two years off their ages. ) My uncle never knew until she died.
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I've had all of the above!
I've had older women marrying younger men and then lying about it and vice versa. I'm happy if an age ties in plus or minus 10!
I have an intriging entry in Kikcudbright 1881 where the whole family are the wrong ages - the what should be grandparents Margaret and Thomas Harrison should be a good 20 years older than listed and all the kids are out by 10 years. All other info is correct they are born in Wigton and north Cumberland.
BUT they live next door to a women who is their daughter and my direct and appear to be the same age. I've looked at the original image and it isn't ambiguous - very frustrating.