[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Lying about age on ship's passenger list

[Mike McHenry]

I haven't seen much of this with my German side. My Irish consistently lied
about ages always younger. My Irish grandparents had 5 children over a span
of 12 years. On each of the 5 birth records their ages remained the same
over that span. That is my grandmother was 30 and my grandfather was 40 from
1901 to 1912. Ships records were that way too.

                                        Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org
[mailto:ger-poland-volhynia-bounces at eclipse.sggee.org] On Behalf Of Carolyn
Schott
Sent: Tuesday, November 28, 2006 11:21 PM
To: ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org
Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Lying about age on ship's passenger list

Was there any advantage for an adult to lie about their age on a ship's
passenger list?  For a child, I can see wanting to get a lower fare.  But
what point would there be for someone who's 31 to say they're 25?  Or for
someone 58 to say they're 47?

I think I finally found my great-grandmother - I think she traveled to
America with her 2 married sisters and used one of the in-law's names on the
passenger list.  The names all match...the date they arrived in the U.S.
matches when they said they came.  But every single one of the ages is off -
often drastically!  (i.e. not a date rounding thing.)

Has anyone else seen this?

Carolyn Schott


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