People increasing their age as they approach 100!?

[LizzieW]

My g.gran's age was correct on the 1851 & 1861 in 1871 married to her first husband she took 3 years off her age and said she was 25, as her husband was 18 years older than her and was aged 40 at the time of their marriage (it's just this minute struck me that he might have been married previously, although the marriage cert states he was a bachelor), he died sometime around 1876/77 and on the 1881 census she stated she was 32, when in fact she was 38. 

I guess she must have met my g.grandfather by then, he was 15 years younger than her, and she stayed younger than her real age on all the census up to her death.  My g.grandfather was the informant on her death cert - and guess what he gave her real age, so she hadn't fooled him.  It would have been difficult of him to believe the age she gave, as he obviously knew her adult children from her first marriage and would have had to have been a child bride at the time of her first marriage if the age she gave was correct.

Interestingly, to keep up the pretence of being younger than she was on the 1911 census, her widowed sister who was 5 years younger than her, also had her age doctored on that census, even though on all others she had given her real age.

[coombs]

In Feb 1842, my ancestor Elizabeth Packard (Nee Martin) was aged 102 when she died. I have not found her baptism yet and Martin is a fairly common name in Suffolk. Would be nice to get proper proof of her age so that the 102 year old claim is right.

[IgorStrav]

All this reminds me of my Mum, who always looked very youthful and customarily told people she was  a lot younger than she was.

However, she mentioned that this had caught up with her one day, when she was telling a group of acquaintances of the achievements of me and my brother and realised that our ages didn't support her previous assertions.

She told me that she had to quickly adjust and tell them that she'd had to get married at 15 in order to make it all work.....

[frostyknight]

 

One of my great aunts used to add a few years on to her age when in her 80s, while her (younger) sister took off about 5 years from hers.

[Geoff-E]

Mother in law was surprised (by official communication) to hear her Aunt was approaching 100 as she was only admitting to 90.

[Redroger]

Mother in law was surprised (by official communication) to hear her Aunt was approaching 100 as she was only admitting to 90.

My late mother around her 99th birthday, gave me strict instructions ( I was then a mere boy of 62!!) that if I received communication about her receiving a telegram from the Queen I was to say no, and to tell her (Mum) that I had done so. Alas she died at 99 years 3 months.