Apparent discrepancies

[Barbara4951]

Hi, I,ve come across a few things that have me puzzled. On my ancestor's wedding certificate his father is listed by name and occupation. If the father was no longer alive at the time of the wedding, would he be listed as deceased? Then again in 3  census records another ancestor has a  date of birth as 1791, making her 83 at the time of her death. An inscription on  her gravestone states that she is age 90. The third thing that has me stumped is I have several records that state another ancestors wedding date, but comparing that with her birth date, again several records, makes her 10 on her wedding day. If anyone could shed light on these mysteries I'd be most grateful.

[lizdb]

Re the first one. The father would only be listed as deceased on the marriage cert if this info was given, and recorded. It was not necessarily asked, nor needed to be, so the father of either party could easily be deceased and it not recorded.

[lizdb]

Re the second.
What age was given on her death cert? Is that in agreement with the headstone, or with your knowledge of her actual age?  And who was the informant at death? Was it a close rellie? And do you know who arranged for the headstone?
Remember ages given at death are only as good as the knowledge of the informant - the person who has the most accurate knowledge is no longer there to correct it if wrong!

[Mike in Cumbria]

And the second one, there are two options. One, your ancestor lied about her age most of her life, which isn't unusual. Second, the person reporting her death didn't know her exact age and guessed. People weren't necessarily as conscious of their ages as we are now.

Mike

[lizdb]

Re the third one, either the birth date or marriage date must be incorrect, so further research would be needed. Or the dates of the two events ARE correct, but they relate to different people of the same name.

[Barbara4951]

Thanks for the replies, most helpful.