I have the church record of my Grandfather's birth in Hungary, also his death cert. and obituary so I know he was born Aug.5, 1879, but the birthdate on his draft registration card is Nov. 21, 1877. Kathy -------Original Message------- From: rwhun.ee.4el41n3@0sg.net Date: 07/06/05 05:34:07 To: HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: RE: [HUNGARY-L] Free Database -- differing birth dates My great-grandmother, it seems on every document that lists her age, well, it would calculate back to a different birthdate every time. I think the difference was about 15 years! And as time went on, well, I can't exactly say she was getting younger, but, like, 10 years would go by and it would have that she was 3 years older than she was 10 years before. I don't know if this is what we see today with people lying about their age. Or, well, if she just didn't pay that much attention. Maybe she'd say she was "Oh, about 52" when she was really 57. Maybe she'd shrug and whoever was writing down the information would make their best guess. I'm talking about census documents, etc, over a long period of time. If the birthdate differs by only about 2 weeks, I'd say it the Julian/Gregorian calendar thing. Some of my Greek Catholic ancestors "converted" their birthdates in America, and some kept the old dates. - Elaine On Tue, 05 Jul 2005 21:54:39 -0400, "John G. Walter" <jgw@johngwalter.com> said: > > ...Birth date is now the third version that I have. (all 1888) > ... > Any ideas? >

Hmmmm, I was about to ask if you thought he was lying about his age because he wanted to serve in the army but was underage, but he seems a bit old to need to do that. I've also heard of about a 2-year discrepancy where they appear to be 2 years YOUNGER in America, and it had to do with insurance. Something about they'd get cheaper rates if they were younger, and they figured if they lied by 2 years, it wouldn't be noticed. But if they lied by, like, 10 years, the insurance company might get suspicious and want to investigate. So 2-years younger was a good figure. I wonder if we are seeing in the draft records something like when I go to the grocery store, and I buy some wine. And instead of asking for my birthdate, they just figure I look plenty old enough, and make something up. Later, when I get home and look at my receipt, I get a little huffy at just how old those 20-something clerks think I am!!! Young at heart, :/ Elaine On Wed, 6 Jul 2005 06:15:57 -0500 (Central Standard Time), "Kathy Hirsch - kmh55@frontiernet.net" <+rwhun+4el41n3+3319e8c86a.kmh55#frontiernet.net @spamgourmet.com> said: I have the church record of my Grandfather's birth in Hungary, also his death cert. and obituary so I know he was born Aug.5, 1879, but the birthdate on his draft registration card is Nov. 21, 1877. Kathy References Visible links Hidden links: 1. http://www.incredimail.com/index.asp?id=54475