With experience I came to see that reporting of ages for some individuals varied considerably with time and circumstance. In later years, the reported age might be off by more than a decade. Plausible reasons include among others: - a passenger on an immigrant ship, traveling with family, might understate the age to qualify for a lower passage rate.if available (i..e a 19-year old might be listed as 16.) - another young man might overstate his age for employment or other reasons. - an older man might understate his age for same reasons. - an unmarried woman might understate age, for various reasons. For example, my grandmother (born in U.S.) was nearly 29 when married, to a man 5+ years younger. So on every U.S. Census thereafter, her reported age was as much as 6 years younger than actual. We're led to wonder whether she may have concealed her actual age from her future husband. The conclusion is that in earlier times, well before documentation was more formalized, it was easier and more common to report an age that might be off by many years; there were plenty of reasons, usually stemming either from economic advantage or mere pride. So one has to keep this in mind when researching genealogical candidates. ~Roger H. ----- Original Message ----- From: <cotipperary-request@rootsweb.com> To: <cotipperary@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, January 30, 2015 1:00 AM Subject: COTIPPERARY Digest, Vol 10, Issue 5 > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 12:56:14 -0500 > From: "James O'Donnell" <jfwlodonnell@erols.com> > Subject: [COTIPPERARY] Change in ages > To: COTIPPERARY@rootsweb.com > Message-ID: <54CA743E.1050309@erols.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed > > I have baptismal records on my g/grandfather and 4 of his brothers. They > all emigrated from Pallasgreen from the mid 1840s - 1850. to Cleveland, > Ohio. From census and death records all five added 3-9 years to their > ages after settling in Cleveland. Has anyone else experienced this > situation, or can anyone speculate why they would add years? > > Thank you for any help. > > Jim O'Donnell > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 13:09:48 -0500 > From: "Carmen DiGiacomo" <tippfado@verizon.net> > Subject: Re: [COTIPPERARY] Change in ages > To: "James O'Donnell" <jfwlodonnell@erols.com>, > <cotipperary@rootsweb.com> > Message-ID: <E66476F70AE2430FA16EF65054A50316@desktop> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset=iso-8859-1; > reply-type=original > > Jim, I have similar situations in my research. In my experience they were > also men. Could be they wanted to give the impression of experience and > maturity. In one of my cases they took off years and I believe it was to > have a prospective bride believe that he was not an 'old man' so to speak. > BTW, that age discrepancy first showed up on the marriage license. > > Carmen D. > Pittsburgh > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 3 > Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 12:44:37 -0800 > From: Ed Madden <edmadden@spiritone.com> > Subject: Re: [COTIPPERARY] Change in ages > To: cotipperary@rootsweb.com, Carmen DiGiacomo <tippfado@verizon.net> > Message-ID: <54CA9BB5.4020602@spiritone.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed > > Hi Jim and everyone, > > I noted several ages on my my grandfather, Daniel Madden. > For several years I could not find a baptism or birth registration on > him but had them for all of his siblings, all from Moyne Parish, Co > Tipperary. > Found nothing in Dublin at the General Registration Office. > Began to wonder if he was an illegitimate bastard, of so did that make > me a "Grand Bastard"?! > > Finally, in Nenegh at the local registration office they found the > original registration B 1 Aug 1875. > > In your case, if they left Ireland "from the mid 1840s-'50s, I wonder if > the US Civil War fought from 1861 to 1865, might be an answer? > I found this intresting comment on ages which could be good, or bad - > depending on your point of view. > http://civilwartalk.com/threads/civil-war-enlistment-age-limit.67544 > > But what ages did the indicate and when? > > Ed Madden > Ridgefield, WA > > ------------------------------ >