Genealogy Chat

How many years discrepancy are reasonable between census ages and certificate entries. I have a Mary Jane Conabear on the 1881 census age 6 in almost the right locality and her father and sisters name are correct against the marriage certificate and also her fathers occupation but by 1889 on the marriage certificate she is twenty having aged almost 14 years in 8 years. Does everyody tell porky pies on their census returns or is it only my ancestors. Previously the discrepancies have been one or two years. any advice would be greatly appreciated Linda P

I remember reading that on one of the censuses, ages were rounded up I think the closest 5, but i cant remember which census. Can anyone else confirm this?

Hi Linda, The only census on which the ages were rounded was the 1841. On the others the age is meant to be accurate. Have you looked at the original 1881 census page? There could be a mistranscription on the LDS version. If she married a man a lot younger than her that could be a reason for the lie. Gwynne

Hi, It's only available on film at LDS centres and record offices. Gwynne

There are several reason for discrepancies. First, people lost track of their ages through not having or losing birth certs. (my mother never knew her true age until we found it out for her) Next it was considered bad form for a man to marry an older woman so if she was older than him, he knocked off a few years for the census. The enumerator had to deal with many people who were illiterate so he filled in the form and wasn't too fussy and tended to guess ages. He also filled in what he thought he heard thus names became a bit garbled. In early censuses, I have Farbrace, Farebrace and Fairbrass forbears all closely related. We in the 21st century have a different mind-set to our forbears in the 18th and 19th. as well as mostly being literate and numerate

Who did she marry? Whats her age on the 1891 census? I don;t mind looking for you if you give me the info - places of birth etc Barbara

HI barbara, Some body esee Has already searched and found her on the 1881 census with the age and address that tallys with the marriage certificate so it is not the later birthdate, this is somebody completely differant. Thank oy for your offer of help Linda P

Picture this. Somebody (the census enumerator) calls at the house and speaks to someone at the door. The enumerator asks a lot of questions about who is living in the household on census day. He/she is told a number of "facts" including names - first and surnames - and ages. The person providing the information is probably the "head of the house" - usually the husband, the father - and he is providing dates of birth for the other members of the house. Mistakes? Of course there will be mistakes - how easy is it for fathers (and I'm one) to get confused in a moment about someone's age or year of birth? The head of the house is also likely to be illiterate and inumerate, if it's before 1907. The enumerator has already completed lots of information and recorded many names and ages as he/she goes from door to door. He/she is tired and could get confused or mis-hear the information given. And -no one is going to double check this information to ensure that it is correct. Mistakes can be made on certificates but are less likely than on census returns. John

An article in the family tree magazine a few months ago said that census ages were rounded up i.e if someone was 64 then on the census they would be down as 60, doesnt help us just makes things harder, on the 1871 census my ancestor was age 50 but on getting the marriage certificate she was 47,and she was married in 1847!!!!!!!!!!

When my gt gt grandparents married in 1846, there was 10 years difference between them. In the 1851 census this had stretched to 14, and by 1881 he was 20 years older than her. None of these ages matched the date give for his birth on the IGI, nor did his age at death correspond with anything else. I think they made it up as they went along. Jan.

The article that Christine was referring to would have been for the 1841 census only. Every other census since then should enumerate the correct age, name etc. Your best bet is to view the film of the census as transcribers of the census did make mistakes. Jan Karnovski, Gravesend, Kent.

For info on how these errors might have occurred, have a look at my thread on Guest Book 'How the 1901 Census worked'. I think the information here applied to other Censuses too. Maz. XX