Age at death in OPR birth records?.....

[David Douglas]

On a couple of OPR birth records for Abercorn, West Lothian (1663 and 1666), somebody's been doing sums in the right margin e.g.
for a 1666 birth:

1748
1666
------
82

the writing seems a little less antiquated. I assume that when that person died in 1748 - no doubt in the parish she was born in - that the minister did a little arithmetic to find her age, writing it on the page where her birth was recorded.

I was just wondering how common this was - and how reliable it is as a date of death? Or could it have been some thoughtless 19th century genealogist scribbling in the margins?

[SarahND]

Hi David,
Interesting! It would certainly serve as a good hint to try to verify with any death records that might exist. On the GROS site it appears that there are death records for Abercorn covering 1645-1854. No way of telling how many gaps there are without having a look at the films, though. You might order them from your local Family History Center and check in 1748 to see if the person born 1666 actually did die then!
All the best,
Sarah