Advice on contradictions

oceanclub

Hi all,

Have only started researching my family and wondering how people resolve records that should be there but aren't.

For example, my great-grandfather on mother's side is in the 1911 census, aged 42 and marked as born in Wexford. Which makes him born in 1869ish.

Yet no birth record shows up for in rootsireland.ie for that year (or the few years around it). The nearest one is 1873 - hard to believe it took 4 years to baptise him.

There are three baptisms in the same/subsequent year in other counties but that would mean census is wrong. I can see a value being wrong but not such specific info.

General advice as to how one approaches these things appreciated,

P.

pinkypinky

Couple of things to consider in your specific example.

First of all, people were not as precise about age as we are today. He may well have thought he was 42 in 1911 but actually be 4 years younger than that. What does his age say on 1901? It might yield yet another birth year.

Secondly, a record or his baptism or birth might not survive, or may never have been registered at all. Certainly at that very early stage of civil registration, people were still getting used to it, and may have forgotten.

Thirdly, he might have been born in a different location than he thought, and his birth/baptism could be recorded elsewhere.

CassieManson

oceanclub wrote: »

Hi all,

Have only started researching my family and wondering how people resolve records that should be there but aren't.

For example, my great-grandfather on mother's side is in the 1911 census, aged 42 and marked as born in Wexford. Which makes him born in 1869ish.

Yet no birth record shows up for in rootsireland.ie for that year (or the few years around it). The nearest one is 1873 - hard to believe it took 4 years to baptise him.

There are three baptisms in the same/subsequent year in other counties but that would mean census is wrong. I can see a value being wrong but not such specific info.

General advice as to how one approaches these things appreciated,

P.

I have found the ages given on the census documents to be quite inaccurate in many cases. Some of my relations appear to have aged 20 years between 1901 and 1911. If I can find a church record I usually assume that is accurate as I know most babies were babtised within a couple of days of being born. There was often a delay in the civil registration but baptisms were usually done quickly.

shanew

oceanclub wrote: »

...Yet no birth record shows up for in rootsireland.ie for that year (or the few years around it). The nearest one is 1873 - hard to believe it took 4 years to baptise him......

one other point to bear in mind - RootsIreland only recently started adding details for Co. Wexford, so they do not cover all parishes yet..and dont seem to have any civil records for Co. Wexford

oceanclub

shanew wrote: »

one other point to bear in mind - RootsIreland only recently started adding details for Co. Wexford, so they do not cover all parishes yet..and dont seem to have any civil records for Co. Wexford

Thanks - I'm hoping this _is_ the case as then I can rely on the census info. If rootsireland don't have it, is it available anywhere else? Or would I have to wait for the Catholic Church data website due to go online in summer?

P.

shanew

oceanclub wrote: »

Thanks - I'm hoping this _is_ the case as then I can rely on the census info. If rootsireland don't have it, is it available anywhere else? Or would I have to wait for the Catholic Church data website due to go online in summer?

P.

Your best bet at the moment is keeping an eye out for RootsIreland updates, or civil records (assuming he was actually born after 1864, and registered)

Do you know the town or parish ?
The RC records that NLI plan to make available online are images, so will be like scanning through a microfilm.

Boscod

As a matter of interest....any idea when will the NLI images be online?

Also, in relation to the transcripted church records on IrishGenealogy.ie, who undertook this work...was it NLI staff (or similar) or FAS trainees (or similar) ?
Thanks.

shanew

According to the press release the website will be up and running by 'Summer 2015'. I suspect they might make parishes available on a phased basis.

The believe the IrishGenealogy transcripts were contracted out.

blue banana

AFAIK irishgenealogy.ie transcriding was contracted to Eneclann and the work was completed in Bangladesh.

Boscod

Thanks......it's interesting as my G grandfather married three times in the same Dublin parish, yet none of these marriages appear on irishgenealogy.ie, however they are all on the microfilm in the NLI.

shanew

If the parish is one with images available on IrishGen, then you might be able to find it by date - could be mis-transcribed, or difficult to read ?