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How accurate are death certificates
Profile | Posted by | Options | Post Date |
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Angela | Report | 20 May 2010 18:45 |
Please can someone advise me on how accurate the age on a death certificate would be in 1905 please. One of my family members William Clarke is listed as being 67 which takes his birth to 1838 but on the census forms it differs all the time, if he could not tell them on the census forms when he was born how can they know this for the death certificate. |
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RutlandBelle | Report | 20 May 2010 18:49 |
I would think that the age at death is only as good as the information given by the informant and that would depend on what they knew about the deceased. |
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Angela | Report | 20 May 2010 18:52 |
Thought so, thank you for your help, he had lots of children and was a coal miner so probably not educated in any way. |
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Chrissie2394 | Report | 20 May 2010 19:14 |
When you come to think of it, how accurate are any records. |
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Angela | Report | 20 May 2010 19:28 |
When he appeared in census forms when he was married with children (I know I have the right family) he lists his birth as 1844, which would not make him 67 in 1905 when he died, I cannot find a marriage certificate for him and his wife so cannot track early years for him to see if there is any difference, he then disappears in 1891 and reappears in 1901 with a different year for his birth. |
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Gwyn in Kent | Report | 20 May 2010 19:44 |
A man on my tree declared he was 58 when he married for the 3rd time, but parish records show him to be almost 10 years older than that. |
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SylviaInCanada | Report | 20 May 2010 20:25 |
Census records from 1851 on can be as much as 2 years out. |
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Michael | Report | 20 May 2010 20:34 |
I had a great great grandmother in Newcastle who regularly knocked off five years from her age in census returns from 1851 to 1881! Her son Robert my great grandfather did the same when he was married in 1880 by giving his age as 26 when he was in fact almost 30. Mind you his bride was only 19 so perhaps he did not want to be called a baby snatcher! |
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