Christina Juhontytär Viiri death entry-1738-age 120years

[Katie]

http://www.sukuhistoria.fi/sshy/sivut_e ... 11&pnum=63
I thought the above link interesting. On the right side page is the death entry of Christina Viiri on 04 Feb 1738 and then it shows she was 120 years old, 7months etc and would have been born in 1618. That's almost 121 years old. I think the relatives who registered her death did not know the exact year she was born. I show her birth year as aprox 1647 which would put her at 91. Although I can not verify her birth year as 1647 I also can not verify her birth year in 1618, but logic tells me it would be closer to 1647.
I thought you would be interested in this interesting error.
Janice

[Luonski]

It is interesting, thank you for sharing. I have seen a few similar cases too, persons who have been registered to have died at the age of 100 years (and proved to have died at the age of 80 or 90). But to have been 120 years... Well, in those days 91 year-old would have been a miracle of its own kind. I can imagine that the year of birth would have been remembered as "the year when something happened" and calculated from that. What I really love about genealogy is the stories behind the markings in these books.

[Katie]

You are right about dates and they speak volumes when you look at the dates. Another example is to find family members perish in a year and looking at the death entries for everyone for that year you watch an epidemic unfold, like whooping cough among the young, or fevers among the adults. You can't imagine the fear in the people as they watched people around them die. You never know what you will find with the next person you look up.
Have a nice week.
Janice