Genealogy Chat

Just wondering if I'm looking at the wrong family! Or did they lie about their ages? Or is it just an error?

I sent for the marriage certificate ( 1894)of my paternal grandmother's parents - Joseph Bate & Annie Louisa Spence - but the ages don't match the 1901 census! On the certificate his age is given as 38, she is 27, but on the census they are 48 and 31. I'm pretty sure from checking in the BMD his D.O.B. is 1852/3 and hers is 1869/70

Thanks for any further tips you can give me.

Have you looked for them individually on any other census. Ages can be out on census and marriage certs depending on the info they want to give. I have one census where the relation ages 15 years from one census to the next and then when he died between then and the next census his age dropped back again but was still his age given was two years out, People often couldn't read or write and would get confused with numbers as they weren,t able to count either.

Thanks Jonesy & Shirley, the ages on the 1881/1891 census tally with the 1901 so I'll assume they lied about their ages for some reason when they got married - always good to get a second opinion.

I'll stop worrying now LOL

The other thing to remember is that the info. was gathered and written by someone else, not the householder, so all sorts of mistakes happen. When you find your family on several census reports it often becomes clear that these are just errors. One of out lot moved around quite a bit and had 10 children - so they got all the right birthplaces but not necessarily in the right order!!
Jan

They may well have adjusted their ages for the marriage because of the big age difference IF this is Annie on the 1891 then the 1901 census age is about right
Name: Annie Spence
Age: 22
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1869
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Albermarle
Mother's Name: Ann
Gender: Female
Where born: Darlington, Durham, England

Civil parish: Darlington
Ecclesiastical parish: St Cuthberts
Town: Darlington
County/Island: Durham
Country: England

Street Address:10 Arden street

Occupation:general domestic servant

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View image

Registration district: Darlington
Sub-registration district: Darlington
ED, institution, or vessel: 20
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Albermarle Spence 63
Ann Spence 55
Richard Spence 29 Widower
Annie Spence 22 Single
Lizzie Spence 13 dau
Arthur Spence 7 grandchild
Simpson Spence 5 ditto
Mary Spence 3 ditto
Archie Spence 1 ditto


Source Citation: Class: RG12; Piece: 4043; Folio 49; Page 37; GSU roll: 6099153.

Very common to have errors on ages. Often because people weren't sure themselves how old they were.

Also possible to have transcription errors between original parish record entry and the official cert. E.g. my great-grandfather (so not that far back) age out by 11 years on marriage cert vs census and birth cert, I got the local library to check the parish record for me (they did it free as I knew church and date from cert) and low and behold he was a different age on the parish register which matched census and birth cert.

I can't find Annie on any 1891 census Shirley, but on the 1881 she is listed as Louisa & the birth year tallies. Both families appear to be living on the same street too!

It is a bit confusing Janet, but like Shirley - think I'm getting the hang of it.

Thanks :)

Some marriage certificates don't give ages at all - they just state "of full age". A neat way out if they weren't sure of, or wanted to conceal, their age.

My mother-in-law reversed her names on her marriage certificate - on her birth certificate she was Florence Eva, but her marriage cert says Eva Florence.

On another, older, marriage cert I have, both fathers are named as George, but I know categorically that the second one was actually John. I have taken this to be a mistake made by the registrar that no-one bothered to have put right.

It's not just ages that can be different between certs and census, surnames can be too. One of my greatgrandfathers got married as Lynock and on the census two years later was Lines. His brother got married as Lines and my greatgrandfather was a witness, also as Lines. All their children were Lynock.

Another greatgrandfather's surname is spelt incorrectly too - Pustance instead of Postans. He was illiterate so wouldn't have known that the vicar has misheard.

I found someone who was shown as the same age in consecutive census's. I've also found quite a few others whose ages don't tally in the following census.

Chris

I have found that ages can be a big problem, with variances of up to several years. However don't get too complacent and always assume there is an error - you could be looking at a completely different person.....! As ever, always try and corroborate with alternative information.

A good tip is to try and find the person on the next census after birth. As their age is always less than ten there is far less scope for error. Someone who is two at the time could hardly be recorded as eight.

When checking censuses, it is always a good idea to look at the original. I have found several where the index transcript says one age, but on checking the original it is something else, albeit with poor hand writing.