Genealogy: How to solve a problem of dates?

The date of birth of an ancestor does not correspond to the age of his death? Have you discovered two different dates of birth? Follow our tracks to solve these genealogical puzzles.

If the error is human, it remains a puzzle when it comes to disentangle the true from the false of the life of our ancestors.

So we wondered what would be the tips to set up to try to "discover the truth" (note the quotes!). In addition to taking into account the calendar of the time - and the possible vs age shifts. Dates - Here are 6 elements to check:

1. Check and reread the acts carefully

The first thing to do when two dates do not agree: finding, rereading and checking the acts in question again. One can think that the act closest to the event (birth or baptism act in the event of confusion on the date of birth, for example) is also the most likely act of not having an error.

2. Check who declared the event, who are the witnesses and who wrote the act

These three elements are important to take into account in your verification. Indeed, the person who declared the event and the witnesses can sometimes be neighbors or members a little more distant from the daily life of our ancestor. It is not uncommon to find approximations on age or date of birth at the time of a death (even when the death is declared by a close parent). It is therefore necessary to consider this age on death as an approximate age allowing to define a beach of research period for birth or baptism in the archives.

Finally, it is not uncommon either to find yourself, in the BMS registers, faced with a little talkative priest or approximate spelling, which would generate an approximation, even a date error.

3. Check other archive sources

Multiplying the sources to cross information is one of Our golden rules in genealogy. By discovering other archive sources such as censuses, THE military registers For men and even notarial archives, vous pourriez démêler le vrai du faux dans toutes vos dates. N’hésitez pas à consulter notre article 9 archive sources to be used for your genealogy To inspire you.

4. Check if it is not a namesake

It is not uncommon to meet homonyms, sometimes even in the same village. It is therefore fundamental to ensure that this inconsistency of dates is not linked to a crossing of information between two people bearing the same name and surname.

To check if you are on the wrong track, you will need to find evidence in the archives - The marriage certificate often seems to be a reliable resource because we can find the names of the parents.

5. Check whether an important local or national event was able to disrupt the registration of acts

Local events such as fires, destruction and wars may explain that it is difficult to find acts - and therefore evidence - to take stock of dates. The revolution is also a major event that has largely affected the acts recording system. We have also passed from parish registers (BMS) to acts of civil status (birth, marriage and death) at that time. These kinds of events and "disturbances" can therefore also explain different dates between several moments of life.

6. Check if your ancestor did not have a good reason to lie about his age

This 6th tip is much easier to read than to do! Indeed, what our ancestors have experienced entirely belongs to them and we can never determine a truth of the information from the archives.

However, it is possible that your ancestor lied about his age, even for an official declaration (it was easier to lie before the Revolution and the standardization of declarations). Your ancestor was able to lie about his age to do his military service earlier, to avoid what we will say at the time of marriage or to touch a pension for example ... In short, all you have to do is try these 6 tips to clear all of this ...

Good research!