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My gggf William Brown was born 1837 / 38 in Kinver, Staffordshire to parents George & Eliza. The 1841 census shows Eliza as being 20 years old but she has a son, John aged 6 which seems unlikely.
1851 census shows her as being 35 years old which would be more likely. Can someone have a look at the census image for 1841 please & tell me do you think it says 20 or 24?

what was Eliza's maiden name?

dont forget, 1841 census , adults ages were often rounded to the nearest 5

Minnie, don't have Eliza's maiden name but 1841 search for William Brown born 1837, Kinver, brings them up

For ref:-
William Brown
Male

Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 25 JUN 1837 Kinver, Stafford, England

Parents:
Father: George Brown
Mother: Eliza


possible siblings:-
EDWARD BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 29 SEP 1844 Kinver, Stafford, England
HIRAM BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 20 DEC 1846 Kinver, Stafford, England
HENRY BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 25 OCT 1840 Kinver, Stafford, England
JOHN BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 01 NOV 1835 Kinver, Stafford, England
MARTHA BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 18 DEC 1842 Kinver, Stafford, England
GEORGE BROWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 31 MAR 1839 Kinver, Stafford, England

all parents George and Eliza ...but submitted entries!


1841
Name: William Brown
Age: 4
Estimated birth year: abt 1837
Gender: Male
Where born: Staffordshire, England

Civil parish: Kinver
Hundred: South Seisdon
County/Island: Staffordshire
Country: England

Registration district: Wolverhampton
Sub-registration district: Kinver
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
George Brown 25
Eliza Brown 20
John Brown 6
William Brown 4
George Brown 2
Henry Brown 8 Mo

Same family in 1851:-
Name: William Brown
Age: 14
Estimated birth year: abt 1837
Relation: Son
Father's Name: George
Mother's Name: Eliza
Gender: Male
Where born: Kinver, Staffordshire, England

Civil parish: Kinver
Town: Kinver
County/Island: Staffordshire
Country: England

Registration district: Wolverhampton
Sub-registration district: Tettenhall
ED, institution, or vessel: 3d
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 90
Household Members:
Name Age
George Brown 39
Eliza Brown 35 - 1816 born: Kinver, Staffordshire
John Brown 16
William Brown 14
George Brown 12
Martha Brown 8
Heram Brown 4
James Brown under 2 Mo
Maria Beddard 15

Thanks Catherine, I already had those details.
Minnie - you may be right there - if she was 24 her age may have been rounded down to 20 which would explain it!

1861 also gives date of birth as 1817

Name: Eliza Brown
Age: 44
Estimated birth year: abt 1817
Relation: Wife
Spouse's name: George
Gender: Female
Where born: Kinver, Staffordshire, England

Civil parish: Kinfare
County/Island: Staffordshire
Country: England

Registration district: Wolverhampton
Sub-registration district: Kinfare
ED, institution, or vessel: 7
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 2
Household Members:
Name Age
George Brown 47
Eliza Brown 44
George Brown 21
Henry Brown 19
Martha Brown 17
Edward Brown 15
Hiram Brown 13
Mary Brown 11
James Brown 9
Richard Brown 7
Eliza Brown 5

so this is the same family, looks as though date of birth is 1816 +/- 1 yr.

I have looked at the image, and her age looks to have been recorded as age 20, but the enumerator would have rounded her age down by up to five years, so her actual age could well have been 24.

Just checking other census records to see what they gave as date of birth!

1841 Kent, and much the same all over the country......all a bit hit and miss.

The instructions for the enumerators stated:

To include every living person who slept in the dwelling the preceding night.
If there were 2 first names, only enter the first one.
The correct age was to be written for everyone under 15 years of age.
For persons 15 and over, the age was to be rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5.
Under occupations, widows, single woman or men having no occupation but living on their means were classed an Independent or Ind.
The profession of wives, sons or daughters, living with their husband or parents and assisting them but not receiving a wage, need not be entered.
For professional trades ‘J’ is for journeyman, ‘AP’ for apprentice, and ‘SH’ for shop man.
The last column shows ‘S’ for those born in Scotland, ‘I’ for Ireland, and ‘F’ for Foreign.
‘Yes’ or ‘Y’ in the column Born in County is used to denote those born in Kent while ‘No’ or ‘N’ indicates they were born in another English county

Thanks to you all - I've now discovered that Eliza was Wilkes before her marriage and age was probably rounded down from 24 to 20. What's really worrying is that this is my father's side of family but my mothers side was also called Wilkes so need to do lots more digging