SOLVING the Mystery of Multiple Birthdates in Family History

[@GenealogyTV]

Great advice Aimee!!!

[@AncestryAimee]

Thanks Connie!!

[@BrownsFaninIowa]

Great topic! And a very common issue to sort out. An example from our own family research: My wife has a great aunt Amelia who was born in 1883, but yet claimed to be born in 1889 for most of her adult life. We trace this down to the fact that in 1918 she married a man born in 1889 and assume that she wanted to appear to be younger than her husband when they wed -- as that their marriage certificate is the first time her year of birth changes in records from 1883 to 1889 (and this little lie made her exactly 5 weeks younger than her groom). She maintained this lie the rest of her life and even after her death as her headstone and obituary list the wrong birth year and age. How do we know this? Well, for one, she had EIGHT YOUNGER SIBLINGS (as well as 3 older siblings). The younger siblings include a sister who was actually born in 1889 three months after Amelia's purported birthday. And of course we have family portraits that clearly show Amelia's rightful spot in the family birth order. The crazy thing is that she even duped the US Army at her death at age 60/54. She was a WWI US Army nurse 1917-1918 and has a veteran headstone. The headstone application has the correct 1883 year of birth written on it, only to be crossed out and 1889 written in. Her official veteran headstone is incorrectly engraved with 1889. I can only imagine how comically the birth year conversation went with the US Army staff during the headstone application process. While we don't have first hand stories, the siblings HAD to be confused (or maybe just bemused) at their sister's vain insistence for decades that she was really 6 years younger and somehow miraculously only 3 months older than her sister Lucy. No idea how she explained THAT one!

[@beowulfwheeler2580]

I have a great grandfather who I have assigned a birthdate of September 11 1869. Various written records (death, marriage carts, etc) assign dates of sept 11 1870, 1871 etc. but the 1870 shows him as alive and less than 1 yr old. So, I have merged the always referenced Sept 11 with 1869 found in the 1870 census.

[@AncestryAimee]

So smart! Way to figure that out!

[@barbarashelmire8327]

Also by the time the info gets to the state or county by the informant (country Dr., Midwife, religious person, etc.), it could be a few days after the fact. This happens a lot. If it’s a few days between two dates, I go with the earliest.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great point! Thanks Barbara.

[@CharlesSmith-cz2jp]

Good advice, but I'm dealing with a lot of British American Colony dates and find discrepancies of one year on a lot of records. Most of them are caused by the fact that England used a different calendar until 1752, changing to the new year on March 27 (dates from memory, but are close). Thus many records in the colonies, especially official records, show dates early in the year as the year before we recognize it (for example, the day after 31 December 1661 was recognized then as 1 January 1661, but we recognize it as 1 January 1662). For this reason many indexed dates in that period are shown with 2 years (1 January 1661/2 or 1 January 1661-2), showing both the date as it was recognized at that time and as we would recognize it today.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great add!! Thanks for sharing that info!

[@mdaly724]

I've found it can be hard to tell if a date used the "old style" or "new style" unless they explicitly wrote that ("OS" or "NS"). A lot of the time I find dates without any indication.

[@annw1395]

I had understood, though, that colonial American was on the same calendar as England, and changed over at the same time England did.

[@CharlesSmith-cz2jp]

@@annw1395 Official contemporary government records used the British tradition of March 25 New Year's Day ("Old Style"), but the confusion arises because unofficial sources (such as church records and private communications) often followed the European tradition of a Jan 1 New Year's Day ("New Style"). Also later official recaps and summaries of early records often recorded the dates in New Style

[@mdaly724]

@@annw1395 you are correct. Between January and March, however, dates could be different depending on which calendar people used, the old one or the new one.

[@Travelwith_Adrienne]

Thanks, I had great uncle with 2 birthdays one was what his older sister had down. And the other date his brother's wife had used. Well she file for him birthday certificate so he could get disability she give the wrong date. But no way to change the date. It was really confusing until my mother explained it.

[@AncestryAimee]

Thanks for sharing that one!

[@elohrey9613]

I love watching your videos! It had never occurred to me before that without all the documentation we have now a days forgetting your own age would be very easy. From now on I’m going to be more forgiving towards my ancestors for not always recording their correct age.

[@AncestryAimee]

So glad the video was helpful! I sure wish I wasn’t so forgetful!! 😂

[@karenbanks7282]

Aimee thank you for the information, question, how can I find out what my uncle when to jail for? I know he was release in 1941 and enlisted in the military the same day.

[@AncestryAimee]

@Karen Banks great question! Sometimes you can find details in newspapers. The court records are public as well and you can contact the court for those. You will need an idea of when he went to court though thus I’d start with newspapers to find more information.

[@michaelrochester48]

It’s very obvious why there’s multiple birthdates sometimes. People back in the 1800s and even into the early 1900s just didn’t celebrate birthdays the way we do. Sometimes they were never officially recorded, maybe the family Bible or town records that might’ve gotten lost

[@AncestryAimee]

You’re right. Often the family bible was the only place the birth was recorded and then who amongst the children got to keep the Bible.

[@anneahlert2997]

I have been doing a lot of research on a couple of criminal cases. One was my Grandfather's murder, which made national headlines. So far, I have a huge 5" binder full of articles. Be sure to look in the newspapers a year or two before his prison sentence would have begun, for mentions of any crimes. Preferably, look back until his teen years, since there would be a good chance he had a history of misbehavior. Search not only for his name, but the names of any victims, witnesses, accomplices, etc. (if known). Sometimes he would not have been mentioned by name in stories about the case, but they would have. When searching newspaper archive sites... Put quotes around the full name, for better results, and try different spellings of names. Also look for any nicknames his crimes might have been given (also put in quotes). For example, my Grandfather's killer was known as both "the flashlight bandit" and "one man crime wave" in the papers. Look on a state level, at first. Local papers will probably carry the info, but you don't want to miss anything. Some stories would have made national news, if they were salacious enough. A few stories might have had rundowns of courtroom testimony, but this was not common. Every archive site has issues the others don't, so it's worth checking as many as possible. One of my favorite FREE sites in the USA is: ChroniclingAmerica.loc.gov When you make clippings or screenshots, remember to RENAME THE FILE. This is the most important step. Be sure to include: * the person's name * the name of the paper * the location of the paper * the date * the page number * a brief comment to help you remember what the subject of the story was. You might also want to include your own short code to remember which archive website you used to find it (LOC=Library of Congress/ChroniclingAmerica, NTD=Newspapers-dot-com, etc) Do NOT use commas, as these can cause files to blow up randomly on some computer systems. (Per my IT Guy husband, and my own harsh experience.) For example: KENT Clark_Daily Planet (Metropolis IL)_19 June 1938_Pg 1_LOC_Traffic Incident.jpg Some sites offer a JPG clipping and a PDF version. The PDF is for printouts, the JPG is for attaching as media to your tree. Rename both files. Screenshots of free sites should include the issue & citation information in the image, if possible, and their filenames should also be changed to include all relevant citation info, while avoiding commas.

[@AncestryAimee]

Fantastic advice!! Thanks for adding that Annie! Chronicling America is a terrific resource. I use it all the time. It will also tell you what newspapers were printed in a particular area during a particular time period and where to find them (if not on their site). Watch my video for details there. How and where to find old newspapers kzbin.info/www/bejne/jJnGhah3pslmbpY

[@mdaly724]

Another reason people didn't know how old they were is because birthdays were for the rich. As I understand it, birthday cakes were a German tradition that didn't really spread that far to the working class until the late 19th and early 20th century. The kinderfest (birthday) did start in the Middle Ages but it wasn't important to people living on tenant lands or in very rural areas.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great point! Thanks for sharing that information.

[@anneahlert2997]

Sometimes, even the Vital Records can have mistakes. My mother-in-law's birth certificate is one year off. At one point, there was a fire at the Vital Records office, and when they remade the certificates, her birth year got changed. In her case, she doesn't mind because it makes her seem younger. LOL

[@AncestryAimee]

Haha! That’s awesome! Thanks for sharing that example! It’s so good to share these things so people know what to expect and the possibilities!

[@mdaly724]

My gr-grandfather always said he was born 13 July 1857. His *brother* consistently said he was born in April 1857. Now, I've heard of "Irish twins" but that just isn't possible. And I really confirmed they were brothers through multiple reports. Either one was wrong or one was adopted... but the traditional Irish naming patters suggests one of them is wrong.

[@AncestryAimee]

Interesting!

[@yahccs1]

Other people's trees online often have the baptism date as the birth date, so if I might accept a hint or a potential parent I'd have to check what they have already there. I think it would be rare for them to have their babies baptised the day they are born, but perhaps some time in the past that was common if they could find a church minister in time!! I've seen a family on censuses where the ages of two of the daughters were the opposite way round on two censuses, so at some point someone forgot which was about 2 years older than the other. There was a birth record of the younger one in 1840 but the older one seems to have been missed in 1837/8 unless she was born just before the birth index started. If someone had their birthday on the day the census was taken and they were born in the evening, so technically they become a year older at that time, would they say they are one age or the other? at midday on census day they may be 9 years and 364(and 3/4!) days old and by midnight they are 10 years old...plus a few hours, which would they put on the form? And what about the days when there were two calendars for some time after the calendar was changed and some years started in the end of March and then some at the beginning of January, so it might look strange that someone could be born in December then get baptised in Feb/March of the same year, which was really 2-3 months later not 9 months earlier! That can get confusing, and some records are there twice with both years listed. Then I might check what day of the week that date was on the two different years and perhaps one is a Sunday (more likely for christenings?) or a Saturday (more likely for weddings?) but if they are both midweek that is not a clue!

[@AncestryAimee]

Great question about the census - maybe Google census instructions? I think it would also matter how the family interpreted the questions. Love your other examples of birthdate challenges!

[@yahccs1]

@@AncestryAimee Thanks :) I don't know about the USA census only England/Wales ! I had to fill one in myself in 2011 and 2021. Deciding how to describe my job was difficult! I think the question would be 'age last birthday' as it is on some online forms, so if you are filling it in on your birthday your last birthday was last year's not 'today'! It's ambiguous!

[@yahccs1]

PS I've also seen censuses where someone has listed a baby or child then crossed them off and written 'dead' on another column. I think they thought because the 1911 census said for the wife to put how many children she had had and how many were still alive that they should also list the ones who had died. Or else I wonder if the child had suddenly died in the short time the parents were filling in the census form!

[@AncestryAimee]

@@yahccs1 I've never seen that! I agree with your assessment. Thanks for adding this!

[@anneahlert2997]

While researching one of my friend's trees, her Grandfather gave the wrong birthday for WWI Draft Cards, because he wanted to be able to fight but was too young. For WWII, he gave ANOTHER wrong date, because (again) he wanted to go fight, but was too old. Not just the year, but the months were also untrue. Every other record has the correct date. But if I had gone by either of those dates, I would never have found most of the records of him.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great story! Thanks for sharing that example!

[@sheilajokornblum8603]

I think it's important to remember that people didn't have the milestones of age like we do today. Today we really track developmental milestones and ages when we need our vaccines. Then every child looks forward to the age where they can drive or date or drink or make the decisions of an adult. It just wasn't that important to know your exact age back then. And it was easy to lie if you needed to. David Hackett Fischer in Albion's Seed also discusses how different cultures viewed age and why some cultures were more likely to lie about being older while others would lie about being younger. It's an interesting read.

[@AncestryAimee]

Such a good point. Thanks for adding it and recommending Albion’s Seed. And thank you for being a channel member!

[@annw1395]

Marriage dates can be off, too. My g-g-grandparents wrote their marriage date a year earlier bc the actual date did not preceed the birth of their first child. Lol. I find people couldn't remember birth years often. There's even an old family Bible with the dates written, but one year was wrong. I knew bc I also had the actual birth certificate, which showed that the child had been born a year earlier than they'd written in the Bible. It seems they wrote the dates all at the same time, years after the fact -- possibly due to limited literacy (in mid-1800s in England), or procrastination.

[@AncestryAimee]

I’ve seen the marriage thing too! 😂 Good add about the Bible’s. I’ve had the same thing in some of my family bibles.