Different date of death on grave headstone and death certificate

[Deirdre784]

Last year Orielbenfro kindly photographed a number of possible family headstones in Groesgoch for me. One of them was for my 2* great grandmother Ann Owen (nee Thomas). It was the very first family headstone I'd found, and looks amazing given its age. But I now have a puzzle.

I had the death certificate this morning (I wasn't going to buy it as I had the details, but became curious as to her cause of death) and it has slightly different details

The headstone says Ann died, in her 23rd year, on 8 August 1855, wife of John Owen of Treglemais.

The death certificate says Anne, aged 23, died on 1 August 1855, wife of John Owen, farmer of Treglemaish.

While the age and spellings are minor (and John was a labourer according to his marriage certificate in 1852, then an ag lab rather than a farmer), it is so similar that it surely has to be right.... but should I be worried about the date?

Or is it likely that the headstone was added a few months (or even years) later and the date is just a bit out? Would I be able to find burial records anywhere? Presumably I should take the date on the death certificate as the right date (it was registered on 2 August)?

Thanks for reading,

Deirdre

[carol8353]

My Irish father in law had a different date of birth on his birth cert to the one that he used to celebrate his birthday on.That too was a week apart. We knew his birthday as 8th June but his birth cert says 15th.

We reckon his dad went into town to register the birth and said " the wife had a baby last Wednesday" and the registrar got his Wednesdays mixed up 

Carol

[groom]

Or is it likely that the headstone was added a few months (or even years) later and the date is just a bit out?

I would think that is probably the answer, perhaps that was the date of the burial and someone got confused. The information on both is too similar for it to be different people. The parish records, if you can find them, would probably have the burial details.

[Deirdre784]

Thanks both. Happy it is her, will see if I can find burial records, though as it is a baptist chapel I don't know if they are kept anywhere.

Seeing your post Carol reminded me that my grandmother was apparently in the same situation, only discovering the different date on her birth certificate when she got a copy at some point (passport maybe). What she didn't know (I guess anyway) was that her baptism record, that I found recently, records a third 'birth' date .

[weste]

I'd say the gravestone date is the burial date. Be aware of the burial registers as well as sometimes you get burial dates sometimes and death dates in the register. One lot I transcribed recently said it was death date before at certain year and burial dates after it. I then found when transcribing, some they say are death dates in this later period, its actually written on fortunately.

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Weste, that makes sense, although most of old burials I've found have been only 2 or 3 days after the death.

Think I'll go with the registered date as the death date unless anything comes to light to prove otherwise.

[Billyblue]

If the death was registered on 2 August, then 8 August could not possibly be the date of death 

I've found discrepancies like this in quite a few monumental inscriptions.  Sometimes the gravestone is not erected for some time after the death, and memories get a little hazy.
I also heard once of the stonemason putting a wrong date on a stone and refusing to do anything about it, so the family left it there, with the wrong date on!

Regarding birth dates - my dad's birthday was on Christmas Eve, 24 December, until he was 81 and had to get his birth certificate for his passport, when we discovered it was registered as 23 December.   We never knew which was the correct date as both his parents were dead by then, plus all his older siblings.

Dawn M

[Orielbenfro]

I have been working on the Headstones and memorials of Monkton, Pembroke St Mary Pembroke St Michael and Park Street Cemetery. The stories and families are amazing, but that is for a different time.
Gosh I just wish the errors I have dealt with and noted where only a few days out. I have people apparently buried before they died, Years out in the ages shown, unmarried when if fact they are widow or widowers, different age at death shown for the same person in Civil Reg, P.R.'s and headstones etc etc., add into that different relations, different addresses and the errors just keep increasing.
It was evident that much was placed into P.R.'s normally by the Parish Clerk days maybe weeks after an event, look at P.R.'s at the R.O. and you will see scraps of paper in P.R.'s which contain information on bapt mrge or burial, someone gets this info wrong and then you get the errors you see today.
At least you got both Civil Registration and P.R. entry,  some events never even made it to Civ Reg. Never believe Civ. Reg is complete, there is nothing further from the truth.
Rgds
Owen Ap Benfro

[weste]

Sounds as if you are as frustrated with the record keeping as I am!