Genealogy Chat

a year either way on birth dates makes searching harder

I doubt they lied.
They did not have the benefit of our education.

and do not rely solely on the transcriptions, always look at the image itself, and be aware that census takers rounded up (or down can't remember off hand lol) on some of the census.

1841 was supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 years for adults, but many have the actual age recorded. Later censuses were supposed to record the actual age.

When estimating the year of birth from the census I always go down a year. As Jonesey points out given that the census date is usually around the end of March the odds are 9/12 for 1899 but only 3/12 for 1900, in his example.

Deliberate lies did occur, a common one was where the bride was older than the groom. We have an example of this with my wife's great grandparents, where there are variations on every single census. Some members have examples where age has been up to ten years out.

Also remember a lot of ages are mistranscribed. Always look at the page, especially if one census appears to be out of line.

Wherever possible try to find the earliest census for someone as this can often be the most accurate.

In addition to all the other reasons mentioned, they may have said they were older than their real age to be able to get married and felt they had to stick to that for all official documents.
Alternatively, they may say they are younger than they were because that is what their parents told them to account for being born before marriage.
Many reasons. As has been said - use given ages as a guide and allow leeway until you have proof.

thanks for your help guys