Or the reverse....where the young stud marries (or lives with) the older woman perhaps secretly (because they were not allowed to marry) and none of the kids are baptised through embarassment, or fear of disovery that they had children out of wedlock......I have two of those.... Cheers Pam from Adelaide Australia > Experence has shown me that marriage certificates can be > the work of the imagination of the parties involved . > More so than census returns. yes, one of my grandparents declared on her marriage lines that both her parents were dead, when in fact they were both very much alive and kicking. one reason was she herself had left home in disgrace through being pregnant so when she met someone to marry, she didn't want her father informing him she was not quite the sweet girl he thought! also her mum had been admitted to an asylum - for having smallpox!! why? - and that was a shameful secret. by then she'd two shameful secrets to keep! > found out after her mother died that she had deducted 10 > years from her age about the time of the marriage and > maintained the deception to her death. That is a very common one, especially with women, i suspect more amongst those who have difficulty finding a husband before they reach in their mid-twenties. I've found it in various families amongst my forebears but one particularly, where, of the 6 daughters only 2 married. One spinster died leaving 3 and they could'nt give their truthful age if they tried. Which every census, they grew progressively younger compared to their peers, and when one did eventually marry she knocked 14yrs off her age! I always make plenty of allowance for age fabrication when it comes to certs and censuses le durachd Fionnghal