General Chat

I'm a bit confused. If you take the example of my grandmother, her birth is down as 1st Quarter 1908. On her death register page, it seems she was born on the 19th April 1907. I also told my uncle today that I had found my grandfather's birth on here (1905), and he said no, deffo 1904. Did it honestly take up to a year to register things in 'the old days'? If so, how much use is this site for ancient research, if the dates don't make sense? This isn't criticism, obviously the records are awry, but how do you reconcile this?

Their birth dates are from an informant and not reliable.

You can check this on marriage certs, the 1911 census and their birth certs.

If your grandfather was born in the last few months of 1904, it could be he wasn't registered until 1905.

Rose

Hi Paul,I'm a relative newbie,and I am learning by the day.
Some things I have come to realise are,
Unless you have a birth cert in front of you,treat "facts" with a pinch of salt.
Also spelling of names /places
Actual names can be a nightmare, ie,Hannah/Ann /Anne/Annie/Nan....
Elizabeth/Beth/Betty/Eliza/Liza
William/Will/Bill/Billy.

The list is endless. The records are only as good as the person who gave them.
If you are stuck,please ask for help on the boards,there are lots of lovely folk willing to help.

Good luck with your research,Nina from Sheffield

And, particularly when you're back in the 19th century, people did not always know how old they were. A lot of our ancestors would not have been well educated. They might have had a rough idea of their age, which is what they would have put on censuses etc, but sometimes, as we know, they were miles out!

And also don't forget that people - then as now - lied on occasions. I have one accused bigamist in the family (let off but case was reported).

And my grandmother declared she was married when she went to register the birth of my father. Didn't marry grandfather until 3 years later - two months after his first wife died!

So even certificates are not always "proof".

Jill