Genealogy Chat

After searching for ages for my grandmothers records I eventually found them in the wrong era!...Has anyone else found that some of the date of births or death records are incorrect in the records.

Unless my grandmother lied to us all those years and pretended to everyone that her birthday was 3rd March and that she was about ten years younger then the DOB in her death record is incorrect. Also the month my grandfather died was June but they have it in the Jul/Aug/Sept record.

Who can you contact to put this info right? How much more info do they have incorrect? :S :S :S

Hi Pamela, yes that is correct for your grandfather, you will find that if he died in June it probably would not have been registered till the next quarter. As for grandmother, well yes they often lied about their age for various reasons. Also the person registering the death did not always know the persons correct age.

Carol

Which date in June was the death? You have five days to register.........longer if a PM is required. The record reflects the date of REGISTRATION.

The DOB on a death cert is only AS KNOWN...................and is often inaccurate.

The records are only as accurate as the info provided by the person giving the info.............the registrar accepts what he/she is told

So don't blame the records...................and don't be too suprised that a woman may have lied about her age!

Have you actually bought the certificates to make sure you have the correct records?

Kath. x

When my grandparents married he said he was 39 (he was actually 42). My grandmother said she was 28 (she was actually 23).

On my grandmother's headstone it said she was 44 but she was really 42.

I think they both lied so much that neither really knew how old the other actually was but when they married the ages given made a 19 year age gap appear to be only 11 years.

Kath. x

My own grandmother took 5 years off her age each time she married (twice) which did make finding her birth rather interesting.

Agree that the birth year on the death cert is only as good as the knowledge of the informant

As Flick says, you can't tell the date just from looking at the index as this only shows the date of registration - you need to buy the cert to see the date of the actual event.

Have a look at this site. It has invaluable info regarding certificates and registration.

http://home.clara.net/dixons/Certificates/indexbd.htm


P.S.
It is possible to make corrections - my father's dob was incorrectly recorded by the informant and we noticed it when we received the cert. It was subsequently amended and a new cert was issued. Any such amendment has to be authorised by the registrar. The event is also re-registered and so will appear in the GRO again, with the original cross referenced to the later correct entry.

hi
one of mine took 13 years off her age when she married hr 2nd husband
lorraine

I have one that is 50 years out

The index clearly says she is 82 but it has been transcribed as 32 so that made it difficult finding her death

jax

My grandfather lied about his age on his marriage cert. Said he was 28 when he was 21. I think it was so that he could get apply for a job with an age restriction. - he got the job

Andy