"Transcribe what you see" !

[LizzieL]

I have just found a family on the 1881 census, where the head of household has been a bit more precise with one of his children's ages than recording a whole number of years. He has recorded her as 13½ (Thirteen and a half ). FindMyPast has transcribed this as 14 (rather than 13 which is what the father should have recorded for his thirteen and a half year old) making her calculated year of birth 1867 instead of 1868 ( a year too early). Ancestry has  written "younger than 13" alongside "Age", but has calculated year of birth as 1868 so have based it on age 13.

[HughC]

The census was taken a quarter of the way through the year, so she was certainly born in 1867.

Even if the age had been given as 13 there would still be a 3:1 probability that she was born in 1867 rather than 1868.  Ancestry and FindMyPast have failed to grasp that simple arithmetic.

[jbml]

Well, 1841 census was in June ... but ages (other than for under 15s) were not supposed to be accurately recorded anyway.

I'm not sure it's that the genealogy sites haven't grasped it ... more that the computer programmers need a simple algorithm, and "subtract reported age from year of census" is the easiest way to do it!

[Old Bristolian]

I've just found a woman of 32 in the 1861 Census who has a granddaughter of 16 living with her! Both the ages are quite clearly written

[lydiaann]

Old Bristolian:  My mum told me that when she found out she was expecting me (1944), she met an old friend of hers, pushing a pram.  Mum, who hadn't met her for quite some time, said "I didn't know you'd had another baby - I shall be joining you soon".  To which her friend replied, "she's my grand-daughter".  Mum was 38, her friend was 32.  She had married at 16 (shotgun) as had her daughter (ditto), so it's not usual, but equally not totally rare.

[majm]

I've just found a woman of 32 in the 1861 Census who has a granddaughter of 16 living with her! Both the ages are quite clearly written

Here the 16 year old is a  grand-daughter ...

BUT

Old Bristolian:  My mum told me that when she found out she was expecting me (1944), she met an old friend of hers, pushing a pram.  Mum, who hadn't met her for quite some time, said "I didn't know you'd had another baby - I shall be joining you soon".  To which her friend replied, "she's my grand-daughter".  Mum was 38, her friend was 32.  She had married at 16 (shotgun) as had her daughter (ditto), so it's not usual, but equally not totally rare.

.....   

Here in your example ... Grand-daughter is a baby ...

JM

[lydiaann]

Oops!  Not READING what I see...

[coombs]

I am transcribing and have found a lot of the words very hard to decipher. I once asked for a second opinion on a word which looked like Jolsulive, but it was Operative.

[Treetotal]

On one census my relative's age was given as 23 and her Daughter's age as 13...the mother's age should have been recorded as 33.
Carol