I know we all find differences in the ages on various documents, but I saw the posting by Julie where she states that the 1841 census was rounded down to the nearest 5. Were the ages perhaps round up on the 1871? I had been searching for my great grandfather Richard HENDRY's (Henry) birth about 1838 and discovered from the 1871 census that he was born in Armagh, Ireland, not in Scotland as I had believed. However his age on census is shown as 38 years and his wife, Isabella as 28 years. I have a copy of marriage cert. They were married in 1861 in West Parish, Greenock after banns were read. His age is stated as 22 years and Isabella as 19. This makes him 6 years younger than the census. Would there have been a reason to lower his age for his marriage as she was only 19 years old? I have a copy of his death certificate (1901) from Newfoundland which lists his age as 70, while his headstone lists him as 64 years old. Talk about confusing. I am now looking for a birth date of 1833-1838. Would I be more likely to believe there was an error in the census age, and can I be pretty sure the age on marriage certificate is correct. Would there have been a reason for him to lower his age as she was only 19 years old, would a 10 year age difference be a factor? Any suggestions or ideas most welcome. Regards Nina Hart, Langley, B.C. Canada WORSLEY,CHADWELL,MEIER-Middlesex/London LEVER,CURTIS-Wales & UK HART,CLARKE-Hertford/Northampton HENDRY-Ireland/Scotland/Nfld Canada; SMITH-Nfld Canada I transcribe for FreeBMD- <http://freebmd.rootsweb.com> http://freebmd.rootsweb.com

The age variations apply only to the 1841 census. Below is a copy of an posting I sent some time ago. Frank McGonigal Ont.Canada. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hi I posted this a few years ago, I'll repeat it again for the new listers. Directions to Enumerators For infants under one year of age,state the number of months. >From one year to 15 state the age on the last birthday. For persons 15 years and upwards,write as follows,instead of the exact age. For persons between the ages of ---> 15 and 20 write 15 20 " 25 " 20 25 " 30 " 25 30 " 35 " 30 35 " 40 " 35 40 " 45 " 40 45 " 50 " 45 50 " 55 " 50 55 " 60 " 55 60 " 65 " 60 65 " 70 " 65 70 " 75 " 70 No instructions for those over 75 but I imagine it follows the same procedure. Frank McGonigal Ont Canada ~~~~~~~~~~~ Researching McGONIGAL-Glasgow NIVEN,OWENS-Glasgow & Derry McCOLL -DEWAR,LAWSON,BAIRD East Kilbride DEWAR,CHALMERS,COUPER,Carnwath KERR,BROWN,-Dumfries HUNTER,BAXTER,-Kirknewton/East Calder CAMPBELL-Lismore Argyll McCOLL,McKAY Isle of Mull GORRY,KEENAGHAN Co,Westmeath Ire. ----- Original Message ----- From: "nina hart" <nina_hart@telus.net> To: <SCT-RENFREW-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 1:12 PM Subject: [Renfrew] Age Variations > I know we all find differences in the ages on various documents, but I > saw the posting by Julie where she states that the 1841 census was > rounded down to the nearest 5. Were the ages perhaps round up on the > 1871? > > > > I had been searching for my great grandfather Richard HENDRY's (Henry) > birth about 1838 and discovered from the 1871 census that he was born in > Armagh, > > Ireland, not in Scotland as I had believed. However his age on census > is shown as 38 years and his wife, Isabella as 28 years. I have a copy > of marriage cert. > > They were married in 1861 in West Parish, Greenock after banns were > read. His age is stated as 22 years and Isabella as 19. This makes him > 6 years younger than the census. Would there have been a reason to > lower his age for his marriage as she was only 19 years old? > > > > I have a copy of his death certificate (1901) from Newfoundland which > lists his age as 70, while his headstone lists him as 64 years old. > Talk about confusing. > > > > I am now looking for a birth date of 1833-1838. Would I be more likely > to believe there was an error in the census age, and can I be pretty > sure the age on > > marriage certificate is correct. Would there have been a reason for him > to lower his age as she was only 19 years old, would a 10 year age > difference be a > > factor? > > > > Any suggestions or ideas most welcome. > > > > Regards > > Nina Hart, Langley, B.C. Canada > > > > WORSLEY,CHADWELL,MEIER-Middlesex/London > LEVER,CURTIS-Wales & UK > > HART,CLARKE-Hertford/Northampton > HENDRY-Ireland/Scotland/Nfld Canada; SMITH-Nfld Canada > > > > I transcribe for FreeBMD- <http://freebmd.rootsweb.com> > http://freebmd.rootsweb.com > > > > > > > > ==== SCT-RENFREW Mailing List ==== > ********************************************************************** > The Renfrewshire GenWeb page is at > http://www.rootsweb.com/~sctrfw/ >