DEVON-L Archives

Archiver > DEVON > 2001-05 > 0989776531


From:
Subject: Age at death
Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 19:15:23 +0100
In-Reply-To: <001201c0db94$8e2e0fc0$0315883e@default>



> Question: is there any conceivable mathematical permutation
> of dates which could allow what appears to be 2 people to be
> one and the same? The only other possibility is that there
> were 2 WJ's born Plymouth area about the same time, one of
> which doesn't show up on the '81.

You may well have 2 people here BUT also they could be one
and the same. I think your clue will be revealed by seeing
who is the informant on the death certificate. If it is the widow
then probably the age will be correct (although husbands and
wives often lied about their ages on wedding certificates and
probably to each other as well?). If, however, the informant
was someone who happened to be around at the time - a
nurse, say - then it is quite possible that the age was not
quite right. If the informant was a child of the deceased then
all I can shamefacedly admit is that when my own mother died
a couple of years ago, myself and my brother and sister-in-law
were all present at the death and when the doctor asked us for
her date of birth none of us were absolutely sure . . .

I have lots of individuals whose variously recorded dates are
similarly out of sync by a couple of years and fortunately,
being a rare name, it is not too difficult to eliminate other
possibilities. Transcription errors may also be at fault of
course. I have one gentleman transcribed on the 81 census
as 35 when he was actually 55 - the writing was probably
difficult to read and, as his second wife was 34, one can well
understand the transcriber assuming the 5 was a 3.

sandra


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