US Census enumerators were told to estimate ages if they were unable to obtain them directly. Is it possible that your relative’s age was approximated in one enumeration when for some reason he was unwilling or unable to answer questions? Between 1850 and 1880 a relative is enumerated in four censuses. Three of them indicate a year of birth of 1803/1804–except for the 1870 which suggests he was born in 1800. That’s the only census where his age ends in a 0 and where I’m suspecting his age was approximated by someone. I don’t know this, but it seems plausible.
We don’t always know who provided information and we don’t always know when it was estimated.
2 Responses
My theory for discrepancies is that they were too busy to keep up with things like birthdays. Ask me what my birthday is, I can answer easily. Ask me how old I am, I sometimes have to pause and do the math.
That can be it too. I sometimes have to think how old my kids are. And then there were the people in the 19th century who didn’t even really know precisely how old they were.