Wrong young children's ages on census? .....

[kathyc]

My first foray into SP was a great success. (Thanks to all who gave me search tips!) I found the birth and death registers for my g g grandmother Mary Ann Macrae, which gave me the first information I've ever had about her parents, who turn out to be Murdo Macrae, born around 1815 and Janet called Jessie MacKenzie, born around 1836. Both the parents and my gg grandmother were apparently born in Shieldaig, which is supported by oral family history. So knowing that much, I went searching for more about them, and they are nowhere to be found.

I had no luck finding their marriage, reported on the birth registry to be in 1854, either of their deaths (some possibles at SP by searching the whole country with wildcards for their names, but not definites), or any listing on the 1861 census, when my g g grandmother would have been 5. This may well be a result of my novice searching abilities. Finally, I went to ancestry.com and looked through every 'M' name page of their 1861 census listings for Applecross.

The best possible hit is this one:

Jessa McRae age 25, relationship to head: wife
Duncan McRae 2
Isabella McRae 5
Mary Ann McRae 3

From Mary Ann's birth registry, she would have to be five, not quite six, at this census, and appears from her birth registry to be the eldest. (The registrar listed the number of living and deceased children for the other families on the page but not for her parents and one other recently-married couple.)

I know it's common for ages to be wrong on census entries, but it seems odd for young children, where the parents would have a pretty good idea of the correct age. Is it common to see this error for children as well?

This is really the only listing that's even close, so I'm really hoping it's the right one.

Kathy

[Jack]

Hi Kathy,
Glad to hear you've had such a successful visit to SP.
It's very possible Mary Ann's age of 3 could be wrong.
The actual name order is -
--
Jessa, 25 - line 9
Mary Ann, 3 - line 10
Isabella, 5 - line 11
Duncan, 2 - line 12
--
Mary Ann is just below her mother, and before Isabella.
So maybe the age of 3 is a transcription error, and the original page would need to be looked at.
But even if it isn't, it would appear that Mary Ann was the oldest child.
Jack
ps, you'll notice that Ancestry lists a family alphabetically - and not by line number.
--

[emanday]

Just got these from IGI, all extracted records, Please note the year of the marriage...

MURDO MACRAE

Spouse: JESSIE MCKENZIE
Marriage: 30 JAN 1855 Applecross, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

CHILDREN?

ISSABELLA MACRAE

Birth: About 04 AUG 1857 Applecross, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: MURDOCH MACRAE Family
Mother: JANET MC KENZIE


DUNCAN MC RAE Birth: 08 APR 1859 Applecross, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: MURDOCH MC RAE Family
Mother: JANET MC KENZIE

MARY ANN MAC RAE Birth: 18 NOV 1855 Applecross, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: MURDO MAC RAE Family
Mother: JANET MC KENZIE


(Also possible, but could be another couple's children)

JANET MAC RAE Birth: 15 JUL 1861 Applecross, Ross And Cromarty, Scotland

Parents:
Father: MURDOCH MAC RAE Family
Mother: JANET MAC KENZIE

DONALD MC KENZIE MC RAE Birth: 26 NOV 1863 Inverness, Inverness, Scotland

Parents:
Father: MURDOCH MC RAE Family
Mother: JANET MC KENZIE

[kathyc]

Thanks for checking, Jack! I appreciate it.

And Emanday, the IGI was the one piece I overlooked on this one. Thanks so very much! I really want Donald to be theirs, because my great aunt is convinced there was an "Auntie Bella" and an "Uncle Donald", but I can't think of any reason for them to be in Inverness. I've put him as a maybe in my notes.

Kathy

[emanday]

Hi Kathy,

I'm not sure why you got the 1854 marriage date, unless they got married on 31st Dec 1854, with the registration not happening till the New Year. More than a few of us have been caught out with that one.

I wasn't sure about the Janet (although she was born in the right area) and Donald entries, especially as IGI had the father's name as Murdoch, but I believe Murdo is an acceptable shortening of this name. The birth years seem close to what you might expect as well. You really need to find their BC's on SP to be sure.

Do you know what his occupation was? People did move around more in those days than you might think depending, very often, on their occupation. The census records might be very helpful, if you can find them all together in one year, as it should give their birthplaces.

I have McCrae (Ayrshire area in my case) in my line as well and have found them indexed as McCrae, Macrea, McRay, McCrea, McCree and even McRay. Many were illiterate so the enumerator wrote what he heard, giving his own interpretation on the spellling.

[kathyc]

Mary,

Sorry I missed seeing your name in the last post and addressed you by your user name instead.

If they moved away from Shieldaig, it was only temporarily. The living members of the family who hadn't left the country completely were all living in the area in approx 1900. Since Murdo Macrae was a fisherman, it seems likely - though not guaranteed of course - that he'd stay put. I'll keep that Inverness info just in case, though, since these ancestors don't always do what I expect them to do.

The 1854 marriage date I have is from Mary Ann's birth registration. It seems entirely possible that either they got married late in December and didn't register it until January, or else it was recorded incorrectly on the birth record.

Another family member later in the same line was Murdoch called Murdo, so it might be that my ggg grandfather was as well. I'll just have to wait and see if any other references to Janet and Donald turn up as I go along.

Kathy

[joette]

That means you may have a 1855 MARRIAGE & BIRTH entry-gold to the Family Historian in Scotland!

[emanday]

Don't worry about the name, Kathy. I answer to both (and a few other things besides )

I hope you find the 1855 marriage entry.

I always keep details of "doubtfuls", just in case a relationship should turn up later.

[kathyc]

Joette, I do have the 1855 birth entry, which is what started this whole thing. No luck so far on the wedding, either in '54 or '55. According to SP, not a single "M*K*" married a "M*cr*" in Ross and Cromarty those years. I'll keep looking.

Mary, thanks again! I hope I find it too.

Kathy

[emanday]

Searched for them using

Surname M*r*e*
Firstname Mu*

and only put in J* for the wife. I didn't use the location options, just in case that had been mistranscribed on the IGI.

There was only one result...

1855 MACRAE MURDOCH MCKENZIE JESSIE APPLECROSS /ROSS AND CROMARTY 058/00 0001