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Been puzzling me? why born abt ??

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  • Been puzzling me? why born abt ??

    Why do so many records say born abt ? surely in the case of childrens deaths etc the parents should know how old they are?

  • #2
    Surely it depends what the record is. GRO records except recent ones are in quarters. Baptism registers which record birth dates should show the recorded date of birth. And censuses are only accurate to a year or so.
    Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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    • #3
      what I mean is on quite a few burials it will say estimated birth year ? and death date about ? even on young childrens
      Last edited by Guest; 05-04-15, 23:01.

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      • #4
        Val

        I've never seen an estimated birth/death year on a burial. Which records are you looking at?

        "Born about" on someone's tree usually means they don't have a clue and certainly haven't got the birth cert!

        OC

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        • #5
          this one for instance I do have quite a few but would need to sort through my tree,John Knight burial.jpg oh and I do have the cert
          Last edited by Guest; 05-04-15, 23:48.

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          • #6
            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.
            Anne
            Last edited by Anne in Carlisle; 05-04-15, 23:56.

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            • #7
              I'm not talking about peoples trees Anne but proper records, mainly children who's parents were alive .
              I also put about if I dont know for sure.
              Last edited by Guest; 05-04-15, 23:57.

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              • #8
                Added a bit while you posted! Its a transcription thing.
                Anne
                Last edited by Anne in Carlisle; 05-04-15, 23:58.

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                • #9
                  thanks Anne , I would have thought if they were say being buried in 1852 then they had died in 1852 ? ah well I am bored tonight thats my excuse.

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                  • #10
                    hmmmmmmm

                    They could have died before 1852, and been "hidden" somewhere :D
                    My 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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                    • #11
                      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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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Val wish Id never started View Post
                        Why do so many records say born abt ? surely in the case of childrens deaths etc the parents should know how old they are?
                        The record does show how old people are but doesn't give the date of birth as that was not required for that particular record at the time. Nowadays on deaths we get exact dates of birth because you have to give it to the Registrar.

                        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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                        • #13
                          thanks for your answers, very enlightening, especially Sylvia's.

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                          • #14
                            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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