Headstone says 79 But ???

[Guest]

Is this normal ??? Headstone says aged 79 but Death Cert says 83 ?? thanks

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

I suppose it depends if the same person gave details to the registrar and the stonemason, or if it were the same person they subsequently discovered the different information prior to giving the instructions to the stonemason.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

I wouldn't say it's normal, but it does happen. Do you know whether either age is correct?! Could the stone have been errected a long time after the death? Who might have been responsible for arranging the stone?

[JBee]

Yes the wrong info can be given to the stonemason by mistake - I know it happened in my family (also someone lied about their age too!!)

[Guest]

well I would be delighted if the age on the Headstone is correct otherwise its a bit of a puzzle.
His Daughter was the informant on the Death Cert dont know who arranged the Headstone ???

[Janet in Yorkshire]

Val, I had a similar situation last night.

I found a photo of a gravestone on a website - that gave her age as 44 yrs. It also gave date of death as 27 May 1882. In the GRO index there is only one possibility for that quarter, but that records her age as 34!

She was bp on 14 June 1838, which fits in with the 44 yrs.

On 1881 census, her age was given as 34, which tallies with the cert!

It is the right lady in census ( birth place, husband and children all correct and they live in a tiny village) but age is same as for 1871 census.

Jay

[KiteRunner]

Val, I have a photo of a headstone commemmorating two of my rellies, and it gives the wrong year of death for both of them, so I'm sure it's possible.

[Guest]

oh great !! thanks everybody trouble is there are three people with the same name who died bewteen 1907 and 1914 all in the right area , didnt want to think I visited the wrong Grave LOL

[Olde Crone Holden]

I have a Scottish relative who knocked 13 years off her age. Her death, reported by her daughter, gives the wrong age and so does the gravestone.

You might think I have the wrong person, but I don't - I have her birth cert and her two appearances as a singlewoman on the census, confirmed in later censuses as the same woman because her elderly mother is living with her and has a most unusual first name!

OC

[deletejb]

On the headstone of my hubbies 2x great grandparents it mentioned their nephew who died WW1 age 17 on the headstone. This was not their nephew, it was their grandson, their nephew, who had the same name, also died WW1 aged 44.

Jan

[Guest]

thats amazing OC its quite a few years to knock off isnt it ????
How awful Jan are they doing anything about it ???

[deletejb]

Val I don't know what they could do about it, I assume it's been on the stone for 90 ish years. One day I'll see if I can track the stonemason down.

[Kit]

There was quite an argument about what should go on the gravestone of an elderly relative of mine. Some had the DOD wrong. It required looking up the calendar to sort it out.

[Sand Dancer]

My maternal grandfather's date of birth and age differ on just about every piece of documentation we have for him, all except his birth cert which we don't have!!!

First he fibbed about his age when coming to the UK, as he had run away from home, so Ships Passenger list has him several years older than he thought he was. Bearing in mind he was illiterate, had no papers, and prob only had a rough idea of his birthdate anyway.
By the time he married my grandma he knocked a few years off so there wasn't such a big age gap between them, so marriage cert has different age.
His Naturalisation papers have another age, because by that time I think he genuinely didn't know what year he had been born!

By the time he died, the death cert says one age, but auntie adamant that this was incorrect. So grandma and auntie were at loggerheads regarding what age to put on gravestone. Grandma arranged it eventually, and got mixed up!!
Auntie and Mum still argue over the year he was born!!
And I am still unable to find his birth registration or birth cert from Lithuania.

Hey ho.
K

[Olde Crone Holden]

Val

Yes, it made me laugh, that must be where I get it from! (Lying about my age, I mean, although I couldn't get away with 13 years).

She had her last child when she was "34" (47, really).

I do wonder how she got away with it in front of her mum when the enumerator asked, lol.

OC

[Phoenix]

Either can be wrong. On balance, I'd be inclined to believe the gravestone, as someone PAID for that, so had the incentive to get the information correct. Where I have discrepancies, it's usually the gravestone that's right.

Having said that, there weren't many options when a mistake was made in stone. Occasionally, a mason may have stuck a bit of mortar in and recarved that. Of course, that would often fall out...

[Uncle John]

Not a gravestone, but a fairly recent death (2002). English death registration gives d.o.b. of xxxxx 1914 but I've found his immigration to UK on a ship in 1960 where his d.o.b. is recorded as (same date) 1915. So somehow he or his children aged him by a year. He was born in the West Indies and I haven't yet found a birth registration.

[Guest]

OC maybe her mother was pleased she lied as it made her look younger too ??? after all what Woman wants people to believe your child is 13 years older than she really is .
I am quite pleased now as the date on Headstone matches perfectly .

[Guy]

Never take any date a face value even if it is written in stone.
There is a burial in a churchyard near here with the burial date (on the headstone) as 31st February.
Cheers
Guy

[Granny Lynne]

LOL Guy!
My uncle was born on 29th February 1920 but when I applied for his birth cert it said 1st March. Obviously the registrar forgot it was a leap year!