Missing or lying about age??

[sem73]

Hi All

Bit of a puzzle......on the whereabouts of my g grandmother on the 1891 + 1901 census......she may be there staring me in the face so to speak!!

The evidence I have so far........her marriage certificate......

31st May 1913. The Register Office, Clwyd Street, Ruthin.  By Certificate.

Hugh Griffiths 36 Bachelor. Collier. Bryn Nant, Eryrys. Father - Henry Griffiths, Farmer.
Sarah Smith 28 Spinster. Domestic Servant. Gars, Eryrys. Father - John Smith, Farmer.
Witnesses - John Evans and Annie J Smith.

This was a close-call as my grandfather was born 2nd June 1913!!

I also have photo of their grave (and their daughter).......but the ages don't add up!!....was it a mistake on the certificate or gravestone, or something else?

Gravestone (in St David's, Eryrys)
Hugh Griffiths Aged 70, 1947
Sarah Elizabeth Aged 20, 1940
Sarah Aged 74, 1966.

Sarah

[hiraeth]

I see your problem.  On the 1891 there are a couple of Sarah Smiths, father John, born in c1885, which would make her marriage age correct.  On the other hand, it looks like her age was given at 74 at death in 1966, as I found a Sarah Griffiths, age 74 death registered at Ruthin in Q3 1966. 

On the 1901 census there is a Sarah Smith, aged 8. father John.  Unless you have any further information or clues from names of siblings etc.  choosing which is which may be difficult.  I had a similar problem with my grandmother as I eventually found out she had lied about her age at marriage (she was five years older than her husband and she never told him!).

Because of the "shotgun" aspect of the marriage , I think if I was you, I would go for lying about her age at marriage.  Maybe she didn't want her husband to know there was a 16 year age gap at such a sensitive time   Or maybe she wasn't quite 21 at the time and just picked another age out of the blue??

If you want more details on what I found, just let me know.

Heather

[Peterej]

Hi Sarah

I presume you haven't obtained the death certificate. My great-grandfather had his age amended in the official records by 2 of his children by 3 years some months after the death was first recorded.  I appreciate your difference is greater but birth dates were not always well remembered. In my case 2 children were given the same name - the first dying at age 1 before the birth of the second. This seems common practice. It may also be worth finding the funeral details in the paper and again it is worth mentioning the electoral roll!!

The main reason for thinking she was younger however is that if I have the correct family - parents John & Ann with sister Ann J (a witness) she does not appear on the 1891 census. The John I found however is a coal miner in 1901 but this is not that necessarily significant as sometimes they obtained just a few acres and became farmers.

Peter

[hiraeth]

Sarah

Peter makes an excellent point.  The Ann Jane Smith he mentions, sister of Sarah Smith named in the 1901 census, was age 16.  Perhaps when the details were being provided at the Registrar's Office,  there was a mixup in communication and her age of 28 as witness was accidently recorded instead of the bride's? 

Heather

[LeeW]

another thing to note is that the Sarah aged 8 in the 1901 census is living at Gors which is the same place your G Grandmother was living at when she married (Gars isn't very welsh so I reckon it should be Gors too!)

Lee.