Deedee,
The information on a death certificate in the 1950s would not have been supported by any documentation. (And often none would have been available anyway). So it was often just the informant’s best guess. For someone in their 70s or 80s, the deceased’s age could often out by 10 years or more.
People in Ireland in the 1800s didn’t celebrate birthdays and often didn’t really know how old they were, especially as they got older. If officialdom required an age or date of birth it was common just to guess or make a date up.
Alexander Irvine was born in 1863 in Antrim town, in Co Antrim, and became a Minister living in the US. This extract from his book “The Chimney Corner revisited” perhaps explains why people often had to guess their ages:
“My mother kept a mental record of the twelve births. None of us ever knew, or cared to know, when we were born. When I heard of anybody in the more fortunate class celebrating a birthday I considered it a foolish imitation of the Queen’s birthday, which rankled in our little minds with 25th December or 12th July. In manhood there were times when I had to prove I was born somewhere, somewhen, and then it was that I discovered that I also had a birthday. The clerk of the parish informed me.”
I have also attached a letter which I found in parish records in PRONI (the public record office) in Belfast from someone in Pettigoe, Co. Donegal in 1908 writing to his Minister, asking for proof of age (ie a baptismal certificate). All he knew was that he was between “70 and 78 years of age.” He clearly had only the vaguest idea and couldn’t narrow it down to within 9 years. (The likely reason for the letter was that the old age pension was being introduced in 1909 for people aged 70 and over. Documentary proof of age was required. Thus, probably for the first time in his life, establishing his age accurately became relevant to him).
The 1911 census for Moneen contains 37 households and a population of 123 people. Only 2 Winifred McLoughlins (both in the same household, mother & daughter) so it’s extremely unlikely that the 1950 death is not your ancestor. Or putting it another way if the 1950 death isn’t your ancestor, who is she?
