Discharge Paper Error

[rbortega]

Has anybody ever noticed that the age of their ancestor was incorrect on their Civil War discharge paper? After doing research and comparing other documents (in particular census records), I couldn't help but notice that age of my ancestor John M. Jordan at the time of his enlistment was put on his discharge paper instead of his actual age at the end of his service. John was 19 when he enlisted and 22 when discharged.

 

[Bentonville]

It is strange. Even now I'm sure some people guess how old they are. To some 'around the time' is good enough.

We have fairly good accounting of my relatives who fought. One was captured so there was a profile. The other fought through the war.

On the paper it said term of enlistment and he wrote 'for the war'.

 

[Taylin]

It's not all that uncommon to have some conflicting numbers as to someone's age on documents. Typically if there's an error it's a small one of 1-2 years - I've seen a lot of this with men in USCT regiments in particular that I've researched here in my county

 

[DixieRifles]

It is strange. Even now I'm sure some people guess how old they are. To some 'around the time' is good enough.

My Mother, born in early 1920's, didn't seem to know when her Birth Date was. Sometimes it was Dec 3 and sometimes Dec 5. Well, she applied for her Passport in 1971 and the date of birth was recorded as November 26 (I need to check my tree for exact date).

 

[Bentonville]

My Mother, born in early 1920's, didn't seem to know when her Birth Date was. Sometimes it was Dec 3 and sometimes Dec 5. Well, she applied for her Passport in 1971 and the date of birth was recorded as November 26 (I need to check my tree for exact date).

My family for some people who were older in my family, 3nd grandfather it's born around October. That's a nice wide range to be in.