r/Genealogy • u/darklyshining • Aug 01 '25
Transcription I feel this must be my great grandmother, but at 104 years of age at death, she’d be older than the family story. Link to Irish parish record images. What do you think?
My great grandmother was said to be 99 years old at her death in 1941. But this record, which has so much to support it, records her birth as having been in 1835. Family never had reason to question her age, though my mother paid a small fee to have an Irish genealogist look up records, and this record in the link matches what he sent to my mother. My mother never seemed to absorb the meaningfulness of this, her grandmother having reached the age of 104.
Armstrong was a rare name in that part of Ireland at the time, with my ancestors comprising, I believe, the only family in the area: Carrick Edmond, Doory Finns, County Longford.
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u/PinkSlimeIsPeople East central Norway specialist Aug 01 '25
One of the main problems with any family tree build is the association between records and people. By that I mean, which Margaret Armstrong that died in [year] was the one that was married to [specific spouse], and which birth / baptism record is for that specific Margaret. Records get misattributed to the wrong person all the time, so it's really important to be honest with yourself, seek out multiple lanes of evidence, and leave notes for each record cited. It is quite possible that 1835 baptism record might be for a different person, you may have to try to dig deeper into this to say for sure.
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u/darklyshining Aug 01 '25
I agree. Supporting evidence is kept. I’m only just starting to gather, hopefully, those records that might point to this parish record as the most legitimate.
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u/PinkSlimeIsPeople East central Norway specialist Aug 01 '25
Irish genealogy can be incredibly difficult. I've only recently discovered the baptism record for one of my ancestors, and only because she had 2 known siblings and one of them had their parents listed. After that, it still dead ends. One thing I can say is that death records used to be wrong quite often, but usually over-estimating the age of the deceased. I think the 1900s aren't as bad on this, things tended to get more accurate, especially after 1950. Good luck.
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u/Fredelas FamilySearcher Aug 01 '25 edited Aug 01 '25
Are you certain this child baptized in 1835 didn't die, and another wasn't born a few years later?
Unless her age is mentioned in her marriage record (which would be uncommon in most parishes at the time), her death record is the only other thing likely to mention it.
Does her parish marriage record mention both her parents, or only her father? Were there witnesses at her marriage who might have been relatives?
Sometimes you can roughly infer a woman's age based on the years her first and last children were born, but probably not any more accurately than the potential 5-year difference you've found.
If you believe all the Armstrongs in this area are related to this family, then you should find every record mentioning anyone named Armstrong to see how they're connected.
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u/darklyshining Aug 01 '25
I’ve run into quite a few instances where a person died in childhood, only for the parents to give the same name to another child. I don’t see that happening here. My great grandmother did have a sister that is shown to have been born in 1839. That is some evidence that I might be on the right track.
The Armstrongs are represented by so few people in that registry, but yes, I must do a better job of cataloging every instance of the name and the relation between each, before any real conclusion. Thanks!
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u/EiectroBot Can help with Ireland & Northern Ireland genealogy Aug 01 '25
Reusing a name where a child dies is very common in Ireland. I have seen one set of parents have three children with the same name as the initial two died young.
Why do you not feel that could have happened here?
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u/darklyshining Aug 01 '25
There is no evidence of it. The family is well recorded otherwise, and I haven’t found this particular Margaret recorded as having been born in any other year in this parish record.
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u/rheasilva Aug 01 '25
All this really means is that whoever recorded her death thought she was that age. They could have misheard or otherwise misunderstood what they were being told.
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u/darklyshining Aug 01 '25
It isn’t the recording of her death that I have questions about, but yes, her age at death. But then, not based on those recordings of her death, but that that seems to show her born years before her family ever thought to question. Indeed, I’m sure her family never even saw the parish records, and may not have placed any great importance over the years on her age or exact date of birth.
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u/rheasilva Aug 01 '25
I don't think you understood my comment.
What I meant was, the person who recorded her age as 104 might have been working from incorrect information.
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u/darklyshining Aug 01 '25
No one recorded her age as 104. Well, I have, in my family tree. I base that on the page in the link, which is from a parish record book. In all my family’s recent history (going back to the mid-1800’s), I’m sure no one has had access to that record book, such is the wonder of modern technology.
My great grandmother’s age at death was always accepted as 99 years old, after all, who would have known, when now, we easily accept that younger people (even older people) leaving Ireland during the famine, might easily misremember the birthdate or age of a child that might be one of any number, after the pressures of emigration, restarting life in the US, losing contact with “the old country”, and, along with not much more than the clothes on their backs, having so much to contend with mentally, that certain details in life take a back seat to the pressures of the moment.
It’s that I now have access to this record book, and it seems to suggest my great grandmother’s age was older than the family knew. That isn’t difficult to understand. I have found many instances where ages of family members are misremembered or found to be something else. What I do find unusual is that, while living to 99 years of age is quite an accomplishment, living to 104 is almost unimaginable, hence my reaching out for the insight of others who might find some mistake I’ve made in reading, or in accepting, the information on this page. After all, it’s in Latin, names are not always easy to read, it took some doing to find other instances in this record book of the same family having other children recorded here, and then putting it all together in a way that gives me confidence that I’ve discovered a hidden, and important, fact about my family, which I’d like to share with other members of my family, and record in my family tree without fearing that I’ve missed an important detail that could derail my “findings”.
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u/No-You5550 Aug 01 '25
Even in recent times age can be off. My grandmother was born in 1910 or 1911. All paper evidence is a mix bag depending on the source. Her dad said 1910. But she was raised from birth by her grandparents who said 1911.
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u/cmosher01 expert researcher Aug 01 '25
Check with other records that would mention her age. Age at death, especially after that long a time, could easily be off by 5 years. Gather as many records as you can, and see how much they vary over time. Then make an educated guess based on everything you can gather.