Sorry I offended , but after 25 years of research every document and census I have on my lines their ages never agree. Civil Registration started in 1864 not 1868. I was merely speaking from my experience even up to 1940's. Dolores ----- Original Message ----- From: kevin Date: Friday, September 22, 2006 6:42 pm Subject: Re: Irish Birthdates To: irl-cork@rootsweb.com > I'm sorry I don't get worked up about much.....but I can't let > sweeping statements go unchallenged. To say "I've been doing > this a long time and have come to accept the Irish didn't know > their age or date of birth" is quite ridiculous and to be honest > insulting.In the US and UK they did? True pre 1868 the official > records arent there and I can understand your frustration on > finding records but making sweeping statements in a field of > history is ridiculous.I again say....if someone didnt know their > age it was due to illiteracy and nothing to do with the Irish > person as a whole. Best regards,Kevin, Co Cork. > > > > > Robin I have been doing this a long time and have come to > accept that the Irish didn't know their age or date of birth. > What really got me recently, working on a family in Jersey City > the siblings claim they were born in NY or NJ when I have one > birth cert. from England and several of them on the passenger > list immigrating claiming they were born in Ireland. I'll never > learn where they came from in Ireland. Dolores New York > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: RobinVanM@aol.com > > Date: Friday, September 22, 2006 4:41 pm > > Subject: Irish Birthdates > > To: IRL-CORK@rootsweb.com > > > > > I was surprised to find wildly differing birthdates for > Irish > > > immigrant > > > ancestors, but Radford and Betit's excellent Genealogist's > Guide > > > to Discovering > > > Your Irish Ancestors said they often didn't know the year > they > > > were born. It > > > just wasn't important in rural Ireland. Radford and Betit > said > > > Irish > > > immigrants sometimes were 5, 10, or 15 years off their > actual > > > birth year, although > > > the day and date were often more accurate. From censuses, > > > tombstones, local > > > histories, etc. I found birth years for an my Irish > ancestors > > > would range from > > > 9 to 17 years, like 1813 to 1830. When one applied for a > Civil > > > War pension, > > > the pension examiner said he "could not tell his age. We > > > should judge him > > > 52." Combine that with the fact that they kept using the > same > > > first names > > > over and over (there were five Michael McMahons in a New > > > Hampshire town of 1700 > > > people), and it's no wonder we have such a hard time finding > > > them. > > > Robin in Maryland > > > > > > ------------------------------- > > > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL- > CORK- > > > request@rootsweb.com 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 IRL-CORK- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > www.ancestralservices.co.uk > > ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Find the home of your dreams with eircom net property > Sign up for email alerts now http://www.eircom.net/propertyalerts > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to IRL-CORK- > request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >