1855 death certificate

[speleobat2]

I have death certificates for 3 relatives, all female, who died in 1855, but none for male relatives. The death certificates for the females list all the children born to these women. Do the death certificates from 1855 for males list the children that they fathered? Just curious.

Carol

[AndrewP]

Hi Carol,

The 1855 death certificate of my g-g-g-g-grandfather lists all 14 of his children in birth order. For the 13 who were still living at the time of his death, their ages at that time were given, For the one who had pre-deceased his father, his year of death, and age at death were given.

All the best,

AndrewP

[speleobat2]

Thanks Andrew! I wish Scotland had kept the 1855 format for the death certificates. There is a wealth of information in them. Mine left me with a little mystery. When my gr-gr-grandmother died, she left 3 older children and a 9 month old baby. Their father kept the 3 older children with him in Aberdeen, but sent the baby to his brother's farm in Banffshire to be raised. I have baby Alexander on all the Scottish census records through 1881 at the correct age, then he disappears. When I was checking the passenger ship records for my grandfather's sister in 1900, I found her destination listed as Alexander Longmuir, Providence, Rhode Island. Once I knew he was over here I was able to find that he had married a woman 8 years younger than him around 1892. He shaved 7 years off his age! His age is consistently wrong on all of the US census records and on his death certificate in 1942. I guess he didn't want to be older than his wife not that that would have been unusual at that time. I wonder now if he ever told her how old he really was!

Carol

[trish1]

Hi Carol

Seems the Australians liked the 1855 Scottish records because most of the states used a similar format when civil registration was brought into law - and they are still that way today (which is a vague excuse for the exorbitant amounts most states charge for certificates). Of course they are only as good as the informant & some of the details will often say "unknown" or be completely wrong.

As for the age issue - one of my gg grandmothers lost 8 years when she married - but her daughter must have known the truth as her real age was on the death certificate. She was 10 years older than her husband - so cut it down to just 2. I'd not heard before of a man doing the same thing although I've seen census records where ages were varied to make a couple seem closer in age - Maybe a social issue in the 1800s?

Trish