Family Historian User Group

Hi all,

I have a question, when entering a birth using DEA it creates a residence on the date of birth, but when entering it using Ancestral Sources it created a residence on the date registered. Which one is correct? Technically both in this case, but not always the case as you could move house between birth date and registration date. So which one is right, residence at birth date or registration date?

Personally, I would say the Registration Date as it is the address of the person registering the event and they would have used their current address. That said, I don't know if there is a "legal" requirement on which address to use!.

Just for info, use of the Registration Date on the Residence fact is a an option within AS - turn it off and AS would use the Birth date.

You don't know the address of the individual when the birth is registered (in the UK at least); you do know their address at birth.

You don't know the address of the parents at birth or registration (unless one of them registered the birth).

So residence for the individual would be residence at birth.

And residence for the informant would be residence at registration.

Personally, I wouldn't even assume both parents shared that residence if one of them is the informant -- I've examples where e.g. the father was living 75 miles away when the birth was registered by the mother.

It depends on exactly what Address and Date you are talking about on an E&W Birth Certificate.

Column 1 is When and Where Born so the Address there is at the Date given there, and are recorded in the Birth Event.

Column 7 includes Residence of Informant so the Address there is presumably at the Date witnessed below.

Perhaps the moral of this story is to always think about what data you are entering. How do you know that? How likely is it to be accurate? There is an obvious danger in over-relying on automatic tools that just repeat a set action.

Mark1834 wrote: ↑

07 Jan 2023 13:25

Perhaps the moral of this story is to always think about what data you are entering. How do you know that? How likely is it to be accurate? There is an obvious danger in over-relying on automatic tools that just repeat a set action.

Mark,

I actually took a bit closer look at the wording of the certificates I have (Mainly Scottish) and there are e a few differences. Informants address if different from house of birth, so you only know the informants address. More recent ones ask for the mothers residence if different from place of birth and no informants address. So you are probably right about the automatic tools.

If you don't know from the document the residence of the father or mother then you shouldn't be entering those details either manually or using automated tools.