Error in death record

[tumbleweed]

 I have two different ages on my g/grandfathers Donegal death record.  Twenty years in difference.  Can anyone explain how this can happen ?  Where would the mistake occur in other words ?

This is probably something so obvious but somehow I am not getting it and I would love to know the correct age.
 
I got the info. from a friend and I think she got it from familysearch.

[Billyblue]

Have you actually seen the DC?
How could it have his age on it twice?
are you sure one isn't a marriage date?
What jurisdiction does it come under?

Dawn M

[tumbleweed]

 They are sent from a friend who looked them up for me.  There are two separate copies of the records. In one he is 90 at death and the other he is 70. These are not the original records. He died in Tullydish. Buncrana.

My g/grandfather is a mystery all round. He died in 1884. He left four little children and the youngest was just about 2yrs old. My g/father was fours years old ...so I sure he was not likely to be 90. Thanks for replying so swiftly Dawn.

[weste]

Could it not be whoever entered it for familysearch could n't read whether it was a 7 or a 9. Also could it be 2 different people. It'll probably need death the certificate ordering or a copy of the burial entry in the parish records . Probably need to contact the record office  in the area where the death was registered and explain the situation so they can check the entry. You'll be expected to buy the cert and to pay up front. Do you know the source of familysearch's  records, probably parish records. Also has he got a gravestone with a useful inscription.

[aghadowey]

There will only be 1 age on the certificate (unless a correction was made on the actual certificate) but the most likely explanation (without knowing more details) is that the indexer wasn't sure of the numbers so did 2 entries under each age just to be sure.

The LDS database has the Irish civil registration index which is probably the source of this information. They would have very few, if any, church records for that period and as well as that most churches do not keep burial records.

[rathmore]

If you are RC they used to give different ages, my late grandma was age 6years younger when she died.  And on the census of 1911 she was about 8years older.  They would not conform to English telling them what to do.

[aghadowey]

People of all religions struggled when asked details in census since many people, especially older ones, often didn't have a clue as to the year and date of thir birth. It's not at all unusual to find someone having 5 or even 10 years plus or minus their actual age.
Also, ages on death certificates (and headstones) can give a different age- just depends on the informant (or instructions given to the monumental mason).

[forthefamily]

Hi:)

I'm the friend that gave Wee Mamie the death info.

I purchased one record off Rootsireland.....it was a transcription of the Civil Death Record and it said the age at death was 90 years.

I also looked on the IGI ...it said age 70.

I double checked this on Ancestry and of course they had the same info as the IGI records.

mab

[anne_p]

I have also purchased records from Rootsireland where the original document has been mistranscribed.
I spent years looking for my Donegal great grandmother based on her name on the marriage transcript provided by Rootsireland
It was years later that someone looked at the original and realised they had mistranscribed her maiden name.

When I located my family on the 1901 and 1911 census of Ireland, none of them aged by 10yrs in the period.
My ggg grandfather was age 75 on the 1901 census.
He died in 1904 aged 72yrs!
He had 5 children, of which I found 4, all married by 1901.
There are no birth records for them and I can only guess at their order of births based on their ages at time of death!