Sooner or later it is necessary to estimate a date of a genealogical event. Often this is to help us sort out individuals with the same name, determining when a person is too old to be having children, determining that a person is likely too young to be a certain person’s parent, etc.
But when you estimate a date of an event–say “born about 1870,” have a source or a reason for that estimated date.
Margaret Smith was born by 1850 because it is assumed she was twenty-one when she married in 1871–then use the marriage record as the source of the age.
Thomas Jones was dead by 1880 because his wife is listed as a widow in the 1880 census–then use that census enumeration as the source of the death information.
George Jones and Babushka Johnson were married by 1830 because their first child is known to have been born in 1831 and use that child’s birth as the source of the marriage date.
Having a source doesn’t mean the age is accurate. People lie about their age when they get married, people separate and referred themselves as widowed when their spouse is still alive, and people reproduce without being married–but at least you have a source for where the year came from. You cannot analyze the accuracy of a date without knowing the source of that date.
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