Jane Potter 98 or 106 ?

[robsdad]

Hi All,
My 5th Great Grandmother married John Edwards in 1751 at St Michaels Bedwardine, Worcester. She was 29 ( bn. 1722 )
This date gives her born Kinver Nov. 1722 to Benjamin & Mary.
John and Jane lived in Lower/Kings Areley.
She was widowed in 1773 and I. Think married a George Wood in 1776 in K A.
A Jane Wood died in 1820 in K A giving by my calc. Age 98
However various gen. sites give her death as 1820 ( ok ) but age 106? Dob
1714
Has anyone access to the actual PR image of her burial I would imagine at St Barts. Kings Areley to discover whether any transcription error has occured.
Any help to solve the discrepancy would be greatly appreciated.
Regards
robsdad

[goldie61]

Having read your post several times to make sure you wanted the burial of Jane WOOD and not Jane POTTER as in the heading of your post, (it had me confused! - easily done!  ), I looked at the parish register today at the LDS library for you while I was there.
You can view digital images of the microfilm online for free at any LDS library.
Here is the entry.

[robsdad]

Hi Goldie,
Sorry for the confusion - Jane Potter became Edwards in 1751 then I'm almost certain Wood in 1776 hence my interest in the age at death.
The 106 looks strange and gives a DOB of 1714 which is hard to believe.
Her age at the time of her first marriage was 29 ie 1722 ( a Jane Potter bn.
1722 in Kinver 8-10 miles from Areley Kings. )
Many thanks for your time and help.
Regards
robsdad

[goldie61]

Just a few things to consider;
Prior to 1837, nobody had a birth certificate. Many people didn’t know exactly when they were born - hence the discrepencies in ages we find in documents - even in the Censuses in the 1800s.
The information given in the parish register will have come from whoever gave that information to the vicar. It may have been one of her children, or, more likely, grandchildren, or even great grandchildren etc. It would have been highly unlikely they will have know her date of birth, and will have made an estimate of how old she was.
She may not have known exactly how old she was, and over the years become a little older than she was really - I had an old aunt who did this, whether purposefully or not I don’t know. Presumably there comes a point where you get more sympathy the older you are!

Unless you know for certain otherwise, or it makes a huge difference to your family tree, if it was me, I wouldn’t read too much into the difference between 98 and 106.

[robsdad]

Hi Goldie,
Thanks for your thoughts on the age discrepancy, I had considered the problems you outline which have occurred in other branches of my family.
My only preoccupation with Janes age at death was to try and discover if she was in fact Jane Potter and if so to confirm if she was the one born 1722 in Kinver to align with the 29 year old who married John Edwards in 1751 from who I am directly decended ( 5th Great Grandmother ). I am 90% certain that the Kinver Potters are my line, I was just looking for the last piece.
Thanks again and kind regards,
robsdad.