Different ages / dates of birth on certificates

[way2serious]

Is it common for ages / dates of birth not to match up on different certificates. My great grandmother’s birth certificate says that she was born jn 1891 but her marriage certificate dated 1918says that she was 24 when married - she would have been 27. She was born in Ireland and her wedding was in Plymouth. Is this something that is commonly confused? Thank you for any advice or comments.

Quite common. Everyone (including her) thought my grandmother was born in 1891. It was only when I did the family history that I found she was actually born in 1890.

Another ancestor said she was 'of age' at her marriage - she wasn't, she was 19.

If a wife was older than her husband, she might knock a few years off her age.

One thing you do need to look out for though is that if a child died, the next child to be born was sometimes given the same name. So in your case, it would be worth checking that the child born in 1891 survived, and the 24yo wasn't a younger sibling with the same, or similar, name.

@HonoriaBulstrode thank you that’s really helpful. I did wonder if she had deliberately knocked a few years off as her husband was only 21 and she would have been 27. I will check about the possible death as a child and younger sibling as well.

I did wonder if she had deliberately knocked a few years off as her husband was only 21 and she would have been 27.

I should think that's very likely what happened, especially as it seems she had moved away from her home town where people would know how old she was.

Husband might have added on a couple of years too, if he was under age at the time of the marriage.

What date does the birth record at the Search - Irish Genealogy website give for her? The writing of some registrars was bloody awful. It's not uncommon for a '1' to be written with serifs that might make it look like a '4' or a '7' and those numbers can also look alike.

@AInightingale It’s Irish Genealogy website that gave me the birth year of 1891 and the paper marriage certificate that says she was 24 when she married in 1918. Both dates are clear on the two documents but yes I definitely agree about the handwriting issues!!!

@AInightingale thanks for that website link, I hadn't seen that before. I now have a copy of the marriage certificate for my great grandparents! I had the dates etc already, but it was great to see the actual certificate.

Really common.

My great grandfather was born in 1877. By the time of WWI he'd got younger (he was more likely to be recruited) and after that he got even younger (likely to help him get work).

I think I've found three different dates for him.

Definitely the same person.

I've seen incorrect fathers name on marriage certificates too, which is fun.

Definitely check that it’s the same child. My grandfather was born in 1905. Unfortunately he had exactly the same name as his father’s first child, born to his first wife, both of whom died in a Typhoid epidemic in 1902. As both wives had the same bloody name it caused no end of confusion for a few weeks when we were researching, and we’re in Wales.

My great gran was a year older than everyone thought turned out her parents changed her DOB because she was born before they married. Not sure how they got away with it but it would have been over 100 years ago, and a baby out of wedlock would have been a scandal bk then

I think a lot of people had so many children, in quick succession, that they may have got confused about the dates they were born. You see this a lot on census forms which don't tally with birth records. We live in a different era now when we have to give dates on paperwork all the time and they're burned into our brains.

And anyone born before 1837, or 1855 (I think) in Scotland wouldn't have a birth certificate, so would be relying on what they were told about their birth date - and if their parents had died, there might be no-one who knew!

I haven't come across it myself, not having family in industrial districts, but apparently it was common to add a few years on to a child's age to get round legislation regarding child employment. That was one of the reasons civil registration was introduced. But then, if questions were asked, an older sibling's birth certificate would be presented to the Factory Inspector!

I've just come across this with my granddad's aunt, who is described as 57 on her death record when she was actually 61. There are baptism and birth records to attest to this. And she was also older than her husband, by eight years. So yes, it was definitely a thing.

That's another common one. Older wife cuts 5 - 10 years off her actual age to make it look like there's no age gap or it's a much smaller one.

I've seen this one a lot.

I feel your pain. DH family are Welsh and not only are all the documents in Welsh and they all have the same blooming name, his grandfather did what some other people appear to have done and added a few years to his age at marriage to an older wife.

I'm trying to research a friend's Welsh family.

Then I hit the Jones and Owen Families.

I have come to the conclusion that everyone with Welsh ancestry is descended from a Jones AND an Owen.

I've come across three female first cousins who had exactly the same name, forename and surname. Which just wouldn't happen nowadays (as you can see from all these threads on MN - 'my sister in law has stolen my favourite baby name!') Two of them married men who were brothers, all in the same tiny Irish townland. That was fun to unravel.

Except DH family who all have the same DIFFERENT Welsh name but as there are only about 5 names it doesn't help.

Davies, Williams or Evans by any chance???

My Irish grandmother had three different names, two different years of birth, and two different months of birth! Trying to track down and link her records was a nightmare. She was an inveterate liar anyway, so it came as no great surprise that she adjusted ‘facts’ to suit her narrative.

Except DH family who all have the same DIFFERENT Welsh name but as there are only about 5 names it doesn't help.

My cousin has a very common combination of Welsh first and last names - not one of the names already mentioned. His father, grandfather and great grandfather all had the same names. (We are related on his mother's side.)

He managed to trace his family history when they were in England, but when he got back to the time when they were living in Wales, he had to give up.

And my grandmother had a brother and a cousin born in the same year, same first name, married women with the same first name, lived in the same small town. Haven't managed to sort them out yet.

Luckily I speak Welsh so that’s not a problem but when all the men have the same first and last name, and most married women with the same combination of names, across several centuries, it’s a nightmare.

Anyone in the future will be ok until they reach my father (same name but wife has different names, thankfully) but past him and it’s such fun.

And hubby’s family. Well. Let’s just say that a bereavement in the last decade revealed a skeleton which meant a lot of trees had to be revised.