How accurate are census records?

Wanda Stevenson · Post by **Wanda Stevenson** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:23 pm

In 1841 my ancestor was (John Stevenson) listed as being 58 years old, and his wife (Jean Walker) was listed as being 59, so she was older than John, that put her birth date as 1783 which I can substantiate his however is a different story. He should have been born in @ least 1783 or 84, but I can't find him anywhere. There is a John Stevenson born in 1779 but no list of parents. So needless to say I've hit a brick wall. I was wondering if I should believe the census or start from scratch?

Post by **SarahND** » Sun Aug 17, 2008 6:06 pm

Hi Wanda,
In the 1841 census the ages were supposed to be rounded down to the nearest 5 years, so they should both have showed up as 55... but that appears not to have been the case! Anyway, I wouldn't believe any census 100% until I had seen the same information in several other documents. Did he live until the 1851 census, so you could check his age and birthplace there?

All the best,
Sarah

Montrose Budie · Post by **Montrose Budie** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 9:08 pm

Some 1841 census enumerators reported the ages as given to them, on the return or verbally. i.e. didn't follow the guidelines as regards rounding down the ages of adults to the nearest 5.

Back then, however, many folk may have had no 'piece of paper' to refer to when calculating their age !!, so went by what they had been previously told, and if there was no-one available with whom to check this ?! .................

mb