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We've all had lots of ancestors whose dates of birth were incorrectly recorded in census records, and we can blame ill-informed household members or careless census workers. Lots of us also have those ancestors with two birth dates, exactly one year off, because of transcription errors in online records.
But I have an issue with several ancestors who changed their own birth dates. I mean from documents that they, themselves, filled out, they changed their DOB. Or from documents that clearly were informed by the ancestor him/herself, like a marriage license. I tend to believe the records that were handwritten by the ancestor over anything recorded by a clerk or transcribed at some point, but what if those are conflicting?
Does anyone else encounter this? What are some reasons an ancestor would alter his/her own birthdate?
My one example is a great-grandmother in my maternal line, and I'm pretty sure I can figure out why she did it. Her actual DOB was 27 Oct 1893, documented in multiple documents found online, and also in a family Bible. But when her marriage broke up and she was again single, she made herself 4 years younger in the 1930 census, and in every document thereafter, she recorded her DOB as 27 Oct 1897. Her example is pretty clear: she was "back on the market" and even as an elderly lady, she was reportedly a little bit vain about her age, appearance, etc.
But another example I have is a great-grandfather in my paternal line. He was born in Sweden 5 March 1876. In every census record, his age pretty much matches the 1876 DOB. In the WWI draft, in his own handwriting, he wrote March 5, 1876. But in the WWII draft (the "Old Man's draft" registration), in his own hand, he wrote very clearly March 5, 1884. He didn't do this to avoid the draft, which included men born between 1877-1897. It appears he made himself 8 years younger in order to qualify for the old man's draft! He clearly wrote his age as 58, when in reality he was 66! Then in his obituary in 1956, they had him again, correctly, as age 80 (back to 1876 DOB). Any idea why a person would change his age & birth date like this?
I have another great-great-aunt who recorded her own birthdate incorrectly in a church record, when numerous other resources have the DOB in a different year. She even changed the month, so it wasn't just about making herself older or younger (in this case she made herself 3 years older). This wasn't an illiterate rural family who wouldn't be sure of their own birth dates. They were in a city, with lots of recorded records.
Why would they do this? They couldn't have been worried about ID theft!
I have another great-great-uncle who wrote DOB of January 17, 1889 in the WWI draft, and January 17, 1890 in the WWII draft. His baptism record says he was born January 17, 1890.
Any of you guys have this problem?
Last edited by Tracysherm; 09-05-2013 at 01:19 PM..
We've all had lots of ancestors whose dates of birth were incorrectly recorded in census records, and we can blame ill-informed household members or careless census workers.
Well, in fairness, many census records only recorded the age of the person, not their birth date. This means that if someone was born in, say, November but the census was taken in June, they had not yet had their birthday yet. When asked "how old is this person?" the informant might say "16" - their age before their birthday. But if one doesn't know this, when doing the backwards calculation, it would mean their birth year would be one off. Sometimes, it's no one's fault, it's just a matter of not having all the information to calculate someone's exact birth year from just their age.
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But I have an issue with several ancestors who changed their own birth dates. I mean from documents that they, themselves, filled out, they changed their DOB. Or from documents that clearly were informed by the ancestor him/herself, like a marriage license. I tend to believe the records that were handwritten by the ancestor over anything recorded by a clerk or transcribed at some point, but what if those are conflicting?
Does anyone else encounter this? What are some reasons an ancestor would alter his/her own birthdate?
It's possible the individual themselves didn't know their exact birth date or they could have been lying for one reason or another.
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But another example I have is a great-grandfather in my paternal line. He was born in Sweden 5 March 1876. In every census record, his age pretty much matches the 1876 DOB. In the WWI draft, in his own handwriting, he wrote March 5, 1876. But in the WWII draft (the "Old Man's draft" registration), in his own hand, he wrote very clearly March 5, 1884. He didn't do this to avoid the draft, which included men born between 1877-1897. It appears he made himself 8 years younger in order to qualify for the old man's draft! He clearly wrote his age as 58, when in reality he was 66! Then in his obituary in 1956, they had him again, correctly, as age 80 (back to 1876 DOB). Any idea why a person would change his age & birth date like this?
A lot of men lied about their age to be able to enlist in the military or register for the draft during war time. There was a lot of pride and patriotism involved in it. Particularly during the World Wars, able bodied young men who did not enlist were practically shunned by society as cowards. Of course men who were too young or too old were not shunned but were probably celebrated for their staunch patriotism and enthusiasm in lying about their age to enlist or register for the draft.
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I have another great-great-aunt who recorded her own birthdate incorrectly in a church record, when numerous other resources have the DOB in a different year. She even changed the month, so it wasn't just about making herself older or younger (in this case she made herself 3 years older). This wasn't an illiterate rural family who wouldn't be sure of their own birth dates. They were in a city, with lots of recorded records.
Hard to say without knowing more details. My great grandmother lied about her birth year to Social Security, my mom thinks it was for the senior benefits.
I have another ancestor whose birth record (church record, not a certificate) says she was born Oct 20 (and definitely a birth date, not the baptism date because that was also recorded with an even later date) but her gravestone says Oct 7. I assumed her family simply got it wrong and she wasn't exactly still around to correct them but then I wondered why they would think her birthday was a couple weeks off - it must have been because she told them that's when it was. I don't know why she would do that, except maybe she herself didn't know.
With my g-g-aunt who made herself 3 years older (really 18, but made herself 21) I wonder if it was because way back then, people might not have been considered fully adults until they were 21.
As far as I know, none of the "old men" in the WWII Old man's draft registration were ever actually drafted. It was just a piece of paper that got filled out, so I don't know how my great grandfather would have gotten any bragging rights by registering for it and making himself younger.
The ancestors in question almost certainly knew their true birthdates. They were recorded in family bibles, in baptisms and other church records. And it wasn't like the day & month was off, but the year. I would think they would at least know how old they were (meaning birth year), even if they weren't sure of their actual date of birth.
Yes, I know about the censuses. That's why I always check the date the census was taken (at the top of the form) and compare it with the known DOB. If it's roughly a year off, I chalk it up to bad math (somebody couldn't count months on their fingers). But some of the censuses give month and year of birth, so if those are wrong, it's pretty much ignorance of the member of the family who talked to the census taker, or a lazy/sloppy census taker.
Tracy, you don't have to go back that far. My Dad had no birth certificate but had to have one for a specific job he wanted. He wrote to his parents asking them to get him a delayed BC and told them to have his birth date a year later than it actually was. Without that "new" BD he would have been too old to be accepted for the job.
My father-in-law was a twin, but he insisted his BD was months earlier than his twin sister. Why? Because he was a contrary old goat and no one could tell him what to do - or when he was born!
Oh, yeah, I've had a few female ancestors make themselves younger. I found out a couple of months ago my (thought to be) 81 yoa ggm was actually 88 when she passed away.
My grandfather was 18 when he married my grandmother. The marriage license says 21 because my grandfather wasn't old enough to get married without permission. His father had died two year previous and his mother was too poor to attend the wedding. My grandfather did what he felt he needed to do.
My father in law's birth date appears several days early on school and other documents. He had a September birthday and would not have been eligible to start school for another year so his mother altered the dates.
I'm just finding a great great uncle who did the same thing! For the WWII draft he changed his Jan., 1877 birthday exactly one year later, making himself younger. And everything else suggests he knew exactly what year he was born in. Thanks for the info on what birth years the "Old Man's Draft" covered. Great story too.
It was (and probably still is) pretty standard practice for some women to take 5 years off of their age, pretending to be younger.
Part of the census issue is that not everyone was there to be interviewed. One family member might answer all the questions and be guessing, or misinformed, or forgetful. A husband would think his wife was 5 years younger than she really was. Maybe whoever was answering really didn't know how old the other people were, especially in large extended families. I've seen a married couple living with an aunt and an uncle and several other related individuals. The census taker gets one person at teh address to fill out the forms and all sorts of mistaken information can be entered.
My grandfather, born in Wisconsin is listed as born in Montana in one census. He lived in Montana when he got married and I suppose when the census taker asked his wife where he was from, she just answered Montana, because that was where he was from when they got married. Believe me, that one caused me a lot of trouble as I was trying to build the family tree, because the very first place I found him told me he was born in Montana and nobody else by his name was ever from Montana.
Birth dates, as long as they are close and everything else matches up, I just assume that it is the right person.
My grandfather, they never recorded his DOB.. And, this wasn't that long ago.. 1922.
He is alternatively listed as being born on November 24th or December 22nd of 1922.
When it came time that he needed to know his DOB, they could just remember he was born right before a holiday and apparently noone remembered whether it was Thanksgiving or Christmas.
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a couple of male ancestors lied to make themselves older so they could join the military.
