Genealogy Chat

Thanks for that Barbara, I'm convinced now that i have the correct death certficates for my g grandparents. regards, Maggie

Its not just that, but there can be typing errors as well. I was helping somone find a person and on their death record it said the were born 4th Jan 1908. I found what I thought was their birth registered in the Sept 1/4 of the same year, so threw caution to the wind and sent for it. Sure enough the birth was actually 4 June 1908 but if you shorten June to jun you can see how the handwriting might be misread and then mistyped onto the records! Yet how easy it would have been for me to ignore this person as the wrong one because of the information! In the same family they had the wife down as being born in 1898 when is was actually 1897! (she was a lot older lol) So mistakes do happen, and family do put the wrong info down as well as the registrars doing their bit to confuse us! Barbara

Thank you all for your replies. I do so want them to be the right ones, but i thought someone else may be able to see that they were definately wrong! Their ages on the marriage cert and on both census match the birth certs, it's just the death certs which are out, mostly James's, but his death was registered by a son who may not have known his correct age. Yes they are definately buried together , i've visited their grave in North cemetery Darlington, complete with inscriptions of both names and dates of death. I have also spoken to a cemetery official who told me the name of the person who purchased the grave, and they had a son of the same name, so after reading you replies i am more hopeful that i have got the right people.

I would think you have the right family, John is so right when he says they didnt know theres ages half the time. my gt gt grandmum is 6 in 1841,14 in 1951,20 when she married in 1860,in 1890 when she died she was 49,and had the names Ann,Annie,Hannah and even Betsey when she registered her sons Birth.

It is possible he didn't know his true age. Does the marriage cert ages tie in with what you know? I have found people lie on that very often. John

My ancestor was known as James, however, on one census he was listed as Joseph -- and yes, it was the same person. So, he was either James Joseph, or the other way around. Another ancestor said he was born in 1840, when he actually was born in 1837. His wife was born in 1851 or 1852, so I guess he wanted to be closer to her age. If they are truly in the same grave, I would think you have the correct people. Perhaps he told people a different age and that is why the death certificate has the incorrect age? How old were they on the census?

Advice please, I have birth and marriage certs for my g.grandparents, James Thompson and Hannah Mason, and have found them on 1881 and 1901 censuses in York. Between 1901 and 1915 they moved to Darlington where they both died. My problem is ,I searched on 1837 website for their death certs,from 1915 to 1940, and came up with only one possible for Hannah and two for James.I sent for Hannah's and the one nearest to James's age, which proved to be the wrong one! So i sent for the other.Now my problem is, are they the right ones? Hannah died first ,the cert. states,wife of James William, but their marriage and his birth certs only name him as James.Then James death cert also has William on it and his age is stated as 62 when he would have been 71. I enquired about where they were buried ,and found they are in the same grave ,which was purchased by a John William Thompson. They had a son named John. Do you think i can assume that i have found the correct certificates for my relatives .