AN ANCESTOR’S AGE IS RELEVANT

Author Tammy Lynn Tipler-Priolo Ó 8 December 2009

One of the most informative things I can find out about someone is how he or she feels about his or her age.  I was blessed with good genetics and because of this good fortune, many people believe I am much younger than I am; staying out of direct sunlight all my life has helped as well.  When I was in my 20s I was always asked to prove age of majority and in my 30s I was not taken seriously.  When I turned 40 things started to change as people older then myself thought I was in my 30s and they were willing to consult with me more on important matters.  I am proud to reveal my age of 47 years and I have never kept my age a secret. 

More women then men seem to want to hide their age.  I was raised never to ask someone older then myself how old they are, as this was considered rude.  As a child I thought what is the big deal anyway as growing up was so exciting.  Look at all the wonderful things adults get to do and kids have it hard as they have to listen to their parents.  Most children are in a hurry to be at an age where they can make their own decisions without mom or dad hanging over their shoulders.  Little do they know that even as adults many of us still like our parents hanging around. 

Women for centuries have been telling little white lies about their ages depend on what suits them at the time.  Census records show ages of everyone in the household, which is very helpful when you are trying to find birth or baptismal certificates.  However, when you compare one census to the next for a given household, you may find that a woman’s age does not match up mathematically.  Her age could be off as much as ten years.  Now this could be explained by the fact that the enumerator got it wrong or that a child or neighbour who is not too familiar with the woman’s age supplied the wrong information, however there are plain and simple cases where the woman stated that she was older to get a pension sooner or that she was younger for vanity reasons.  Beware that the 1841 census for England rounded ages up or down by five-year intervals.  Thus a person who was 16 years would likely be marked down as 20 years.  If you are unsure of any person’s age mentioned on a census, look for other records such as a birth or baptismal/christening record, as it is hardly likely the newborn could lie about his or her age. 

Knowing someone’s age can be very helpful in locating family records.  Tombstones are a good place to look.  Most mention year of death and with a simple calculation a rough birth date can be calculated if you have the person’s age at death.  This age can be either listed on the tombstone or on a death certificate if available.  Beware of such calculations though, as computing days and months to get an exact date of birth can be tricky if the person’s age is not provided down to the number of days they are as well.  Other records that record a person’s age are marriage records, wills, passenger’s lists, social security records, military records, bibles, funeral cards, birthday cards just to name a few.  Another thing to watch for is a record that mentions a person’s age as major, majority, consenting age or full age.  This age can mean 16 years for boys and 14 years for girls in some countries and timeframes but mean 21 years for both sexes in other countries.  In Canada 18 years is consenting and 21 in the USA.  Our job as genealogists, professional or amateur, is to ferret out the most likely age of the person that will lead to the closest birth date possible.  Do you know how old your ancestors really were?

Happy Hunting!!

“MAY ALL YOUR GENEALOGICAL DREAMS COME TRUE!!!”

Tammy Tipler-Priolo BASc, PLCGS

The Ancestor Investigator is also the Ancestor Whisperer!