Birth dates don't match?

[PaulC]

My current tale of woe...

Recently I've been researching one of my 2nd great grandparents, Sarah Jane Devers, sometimes just "Jane", who married Daniel Johnson at Southport in 1877. The marriage certificate tells me that her father was John Devers, a tailor, though I don't yet know when or where he died. A family owned cemetery plot at Southport gives me three relatives: Jane Devers, her mother, who died in 1899; Joseph Hogan, an older (presumably half) brother who died in 1916; and James Henry Devers, a younger brother.

Both Sarah Jane and James Henry lived to a good age and are on the 1939 Register. This gives me a birth date of 2 April 1859 for Sarah and 19 July 1864 for James. Census records tell me that both were born in Liverpool, and baptism records on Ancestry give matching birth dates and a mother's maiden name, Healy. So far, so good.

I've only recently purchased the birth certificates for Sarah and James and expected them to be straightforward, but this is where it gets tricky. Sarah's certificate gives her birth date as 25 April 1859, which is after the baptism date. The certificate for James says he was born on 20 June 1864, less problematic but still different.

Since the birth certificates otherwise look good besides a few spelling issues (Haley not Healy, and for James, Davers not Devers), and without any obvious alternative, I'm inclined to think I have the correct births. But it's still left me scratching my head and has introduced an element of doubt which I previously didn't have.

Anyway, that's basically where I am at the moment. I'm mostly just venting my frustration, but does it seem plausible that two birth records for two siblings would have incorrect birth dates?

 

[peter]

does it seem plausible that two birth records for two siblings would have incorrect birth dates?

Yes, if it was the only way the parents could avoid fines for late registration. There was an article about this with examples in the newsletter about a year ago.

 

[PaulC]

Thanks Peter, I remember reading it now you've said...

Sarah Jane's birth was registered on 26 May 1859. I make that 31 days after the declared date of birth, and 54 days after the date on the baptism record.

James Henry's birth was registered on 1 August 1864, that's a full 42 days. But the date on the baptism record is a month and a day later than on the certificate, not earlier. Hmmm...

 

[Heather]

PaulC, have you had a look on GRO? James Henry Davers (as you said ), MMN is given as HOGAN. Have I got the correct James, registered West Derby and Toxteth Park 8b 274 ?

 

[Rhian]

For the baptism records are you looking at the original or a transcription, that could lead to differences. Transcriptions are really only a finding aid.

The other point, in addition to Peters point about lying, is that most people were not always sure of the date of birth, or did not care about it, in some case they could not read so could not correct recording errors/ Many people have found errors even in the 1939 register. While baptisms cannot occur before birth, unless it was another child baptised late who died soon after and the name was recycled, baptism can occur much later, not uncommon is just before a marriage at the age of 20.

In modern times the minutiae of of everyone's life is recorded in many places, as you go back in time the best you can hope for is some vague idea of about this day, or month or year.

 

[PaulC]

Heather, that's correct. The BC for Sarah Jane names her mother as "Jane Devers, late Hogan, formerly Haley" which suggests that she had been married before, and she did have an elder son named Joseph Hogan. On her baptism record (scans on Ancestry) it appears that the surname for Sarah and her mother was originally written as Hogan but then crossed out and changed to Devers. The baptism record also gives her maiden name as "Healy", but I'm finding Haley and Healy to be variant spellings of the same name.

The BC for James Henry just says "Jane Davers, formerly Hogan" but I find that inconsistancy is not uncommon when the mother had an earlier marriage, or if the mother had been raised by a step father, for example.