Genealogy Chat

People were not very numerate and didn't really celebrate birthdays until the 20 century. They had no reason to keep an accurate track of their ages. As a rough guide I always allow a couple of 'lost' or 'gained' years for every ten years of a persons life. People usually tended to think they were older than their actual age, so someone at 50 might well state they were 60 on a Census. Even children's ages are regularly incorrect on the Census, 8 year olds recorded as 10 etc. Post the details you have, the name may be mistranscribed or there may be spelling variations. A few extra pairs of eyes may be what you need.

The name could have been misspelt. Have you tried looking for variations of the name? I found one relative as an inmate of a workhouse, I'll nudge the link for Workhouses, it could be worth a look. Ann

Donald if you want to post some details, names, dates and where born maybe we could help you search. Georgina.

hi ,i have my husbands grandad only showing up when we got his marriage cert,he was born 1875,and do,es not show up in the census,at all i can only guess who it may be,we dont know much about him at all,it is hard work, good luck, jean

Relatives missing from Census. I searched thru several data based, LSD, Ancestory, some church records. Found person on BMD ID given and confrimed by middle name. Other matches will not match the date of birth. How accurate would the person age be recorded in the 1861 English Census. Most other listed are correct. Would the person be listed somewhere else and not in his riding/ parish if he had to preform military duty. What military action took place in England during 1860. He married 3 years later and it is recorded in BMD. This the only record I can find on this person.