Census workers driving me outta my mind!

[DHALSEMA]

Oh I declare, these census workers are goka make me lose my mind!! I have the 1870 census showing my great-great-grandfather at the age of 41 this was taken after his supposed birth month, the 1900 census shows him at age 74 comma and the 1910 census shows him at age 86. I truly hope that aging that quickly is not genetic and if it is I hope and pray it skips me. LOLOL

[DHALSEMA]

Sorry, I should have stated my great great grand father is Isaac Merrill, father of George Earl, who is the father of Howard Dewey, who is the father of Arlie Doyne, who of which was my father. I thought it was bad enough when the marriage information stated he was born in 1826 & the grave marker stated he was born in 1823. Nope it fooled me and threw in a few more curves. LOL

[Elwyn]

Inaccuracies on censuses like this are very common. Expect to find discrepancies in them especially in the 1800s. Many people didn’t really know how old they were, and also if answering questions for a whole household they often just guessed, rather than check.

I wouldn’t be too harsh on the census workers who, in most cases, were simply recording the information the householder gave them. They weren’t required to verify or challenge it. Merely to make sure all the sections were filled in.

[DHALSEMA]

I'm sorry, I was more jokingly stating that. I wasn't actually fussing. My apologies. I was hoping the LOL at the end would signify I wasn't actually angry or with them or anything negative. Knowing my family's history of our sense of humor it wouldn't surprise me if he told them the wrong age intentionally. LOL

[PhotoFamily]

I'm pretty sure my g'g'grandfather was the informant to the family's 1900 census entry. I think the inaccuracies in ages and DOBs reflect on his mental state rather than the enumerator's abilities. Just a theory.

[grumpy]

I think people weren't fussed about their exact age in those days, and as others have stated accuracy was not a built in trait:D Not to disappoint you DHALSEMA, one of my

great, great aunts actually went backwards by ten years in one of the later 1800's census years. Maybe a bit of lippy and powder made her think that this was enough to

take off the mounting years.