Why do so many records say born abt ? surely in the case of childrens deaths etc the parents should know how old they are?
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Been puzzling me? why born abt ??
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If I only have a baptism before 1837 I will put born "1806 (app)" for a birth in my tree. It means exactly that..... I know when they were baptised but I don't know exactly which year they were born. The approximation is my own shorthand telling me further investigation is needed eg a death date and age.
Just seen your example. That is a burial date so the death date is not actually known. I guess it would be usually only a day or few days before the burial but in this case the transcribers have added the approximation to be strictly correct, it wouldn't have been in the original and neither would the abt birth year.
AnneLast edited by Anne in Carlisle; 05-04-15, 22:56.
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Added a bit while you posted! Its a transcription thing.
AnneLast edited by Anne in Carlisle; 05-04-15, 22:58.
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hmmmmmmm
They could have died before 1852, and been "hidden" somewhere :DMy grandmother, on the beach, South Bay, Scarborough, undated photo (poss. 1929 or 1930)
Researching Cadd, Schofield, Cottrell in Lancashire, Buckinghamshire; Taylor, Park in Westmorland; Hayhurst in Yorkshire, Westmorland, Lancashire; Hughes, Roberts in Wales.
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The original register only has an age at death, so when it was transcribed the date of birth was calculated and date of death assumed to be the same year as burial. In this case the date of birth could have been anywhere in a 30 day period as the age is only given to the nearest whole month.
Ancestry do this for a lot of records, most notably census transcriptions, where the DOB isn't known, but calculated from the age. I record these dates as 'cal' (calculated).Co-ordinator for PoW project Southern Region 08
Researching:- Wieland, Habbes, Saettele, Bowinkelmann, Freckenhauser, Dilger in Germany
Kincaid, Warner, Hitchman, Collie, Curtis, Pocock, Stanley, Nixey, McDonald in London, Berks, Bucks, Oxon and West Midlands
Drake, Beals, Pritchard in Kent
Devine in Ireland
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Originally posted by Val wish Id never started View PostWhy do so many records say born abt ? surely in the case of childrens deaths etc the parents should know how old they are?
The 'about' date is just a help to researchers because that is how we search - with year of birth - otherwise it would be impossible to search.
Margaret
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I also think that people living in those times, not being as well educated as we are today were rather more vague about events than we are now. You would probably not find a calendar anywhere, let alone a newspaper, especially if you were illiterate, therefore the means to precisely know a date was not there.Whoever said Seek and Ye shall find was not a genealogist.
David
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