Genealogy Chat

There is a suggestion that sometimes people want to be a different age from "actual" at their marriage for one reason or another. Eligibility to marry without parental consent - make yourself older; want to not be too different in age from your new spouse - adjust up or down; and so on. If Harry isn't on the 1881 census, then maybe he wasn't born yet? in that case the later date becomes more possible. Christine

Julie 1881 Census has the same family Alfred Davies 38 born Chester labourer (brewers) Jane 33 born Manchester E J 9 Manchester Arthur 7 Manchester John H 4 Manchester Samuel Cranshaw 21 (brother-in-law) They were at 12 Sidney St, Hulme, Manchester The registration district for Hulme would be Chorlton. There's a John Harold registered Dec 1875 8c 629.

I wouldn't rely on ages on any certificate or census except for the birth certifiate. My lot mostly lied on their marriage certificates - my grandfather subtracted three years from his age and my grandmother added five to hers (probably to make the 19 year age gap between them seem less). Even on my grandmothers headstone it gives her age as 44 when she was actually only 42. Kath. x

Many thanks for all suggestions - will continue search based on marriage certificate info.

living at 28 Craven St , Holme, Manchester Alfred -48 -scrum guard??? Jane - 43 Arthur - 17 -case packer John R - 15 - work office boy Also in house William Goodwin son in law -19 -machine man

I think this is the father on 1891 Record Information Original Image What to do next? Name: Davies, Alfred Age in 1891: 48 Relation: Head Gender: Male Where Born: Cheshire Civil parish: Hulme Ecclesiastical parish: St Mary Town: County: Lancashire Street address: View Image Condition as to marriage: View Image Education: View Image Employment status: View Image Occupation: View Image Source information: RG12/3198 Registration district: Chorlton Sub registration district: Hulme ED, institution, or vessel: 62 Folio: 61 Page: 20 (click to see others on page)

Julie, Have you looked on the 1891census - that would give the name his parents called him, and their names. After that he could have give any name!!! My g grandfather was givem one name by his parents, but as soon as he could speak for himself, he gave himself a different name, which is on his marriage certificate, his childs birth certificate and his death certificate! maggie

What you could really do with, is to track the people you're after on a census. Not that the ages are necessarily reliable in a census, but it would give you some more info to direct your searches. Unfortunately, transcription problems get in the way of a lot of searches. If you can find Harry in the 1881 census, for instance, the that will clarify a lot! Christine

Simple answer--marriage certificate! HE gave that info. On his death certificate, who gave the info? How well did they know him? People who registered the death didn't often know how old the person was anyway, they just guessed! Wendy

If his WW1 army service record is amongst the 30-40% which survived the WW2 bombing, it would have info about his family (next-of-kin), DoB, place of birth, former career, physical appearance... Those records are in the National Archives at Kew. Christine

I've made great progress on my family tree but I've hit a brick wall when it comes to my great grandfather HARRY DAVIES. The problem is I have 2 conflicting dates - on his marriage certificate in 1916 his age is shown as 40 years of age (therefore born approx 1876) but on his death certificate in 1950 his age is shown as 67 (born approx 1883). On his marriage certificate his father's name is given as Alfred Davies (baker/confectioner) but I can't find names/dates that match on any census. To complicate matters further my grandmother (his daughter) has limited info on him as he apparently fell out with his family before he met his wife Annie Ainsworth. She thinks the family were from the Manchester area and were middle class - she thought he'd received a good education, although his marriage certificate indicates he was in the Army (WWI), a Private in the A.S.C (baker/confectioner) All suggestions on best way forward gratefully received. What if he changed his name? Which is likely to be most reliable - marriage or death cert?