Thanks Ada, As usual your response makes sense and is quite complete. The sense of desperation of the times... Anything to escape the poverty of the Ireland. In this case we had old Thomas coming out to Port Phillip with his family as a 38-year old when the maths suggest he was 72. His first son arrived a month later. I have an idea the son may have applied and the father travelled for the first trip.. And I'm also starting to think old Thomas may have travelled with his son's children. At least some of them. His wife would have been in her 40s when some of them were born. She seems to have been as honest with her age as my mother in law. :D Anyway. Thanks. I'll keep looking to try and unravel this. Alan. Ada Ackerly wrote: > Hello Alan, > > Over the years the regulations for assisted immigration changed > regularly. Particularly as to the ages of the parents (and other adults) > and the number of children above or below a certain age. Some families > left several children with relatives so they could gain assisted > passageThere are countless examples of adults reducing their ages and > adjusting the ages of their children to fit into the rquirements. > > I know of one instance, a surviving application, where a 52 year-old man > describes himself as a blacksmith. It is marked "above age preferred" > and "labourers preferred, men who can earn their own living not required". > > And there survives, for this man, a later application where he reduces > his age markedly and calls himself "agricultural labourer" and he was > accepted for this particular scheme. > > And yet, at other times, when a dearth of skills was identified, this > man would have been acceptable as a blacksmith, but would have needed > merely to reduce his age. > > Our ancestors were as devious as they needed to be, and as truthful as > they could be, or wanted to be. Most were very used to transgressing > against rules they found to be inconvenient, still a human trait! > > Regards Ada Ackerly > > Alan Pine wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> I have an ancestor Thomas Armstrong who arrived in 1841 and PROV records >> show his age as 38 which gives an estimated date of birth of 1803. I >> have his death in 1868 with an age at time of death on the headstone as >> 99 which gives a date of birth of around 1769. >> >> His wife arrived with him in 1841 and PROV records show her age as 35. >> Age at time of death in 1866 was 72. >> >> The dates and ages don't work although I'm certain these are my people. >> >> Interestingly I have another Thomas Armstrong, age 38 arriving one month >> after the man I'm querying. >> >> All were assisted. Can someone tell me what the age limit was to qualify >> for assisted immigration at the time? I suspect there may have been some >> identity switch so both could travel as assisted. >> >> Also, can someone possibly find a Margaret Armstrong death between 1841 >> and 1859 please. >> >> Alan. >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> >> > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > >