* Entering census age & anomalies

[Ruth_W]

I'm using Ancestral Sources to enter census details. How do people deal with the wide variation of ages given?
What I am tending to do is allow AS to keep their "real" age if it is more than +/-1 year, and entering the age given on the census in the 'text' transcription. I certainly do this for 1841.
If a person is, say 32 in 1851 then 41 or 43 in 1861, I do put this in the data entry part.
If I don't know an age with reasonable certainty, I enter the ages as given.
What's best practice? Is there anything I should be aware of (I haven't found too many problems this way, just the occasional )

[Mark1834]

I don’t use AS, but “best practice” for sources is to always record exactly what the source says, and not adjust it to what you think it should say. Don’t confuse recording the evidence with evaluating it. They are two distinct steps.

[tatewise]

I always enter the Age as shown on the Census return so it appears in the Census event, even when it is too large or too small.
The same goes for any other document such as Marriage and Death records that include Ages.

The cumulative Ages can be helpful in determining the birth year, but it is well known that the older a person becomes the less reliable is the information provided on such documents. Sometimes, when an Age is a significant outlier, it can identify you have 'found' the wrong document for the person.

If you don't like such outlier Ages appearing reports then they can be deleted from the fact after you are satisfied that the document is genuine.

The Source Citation Text From Source transcript should always record exactly what is entered in the document.
What is recorded in the facts is your evaluation of those details, possibly with an explanation where necessary.

[Ruth_W]

Thanks. That's helpful to know. My instinct is certainly to record the data as it is given (and I always would in a transcript). It is a good point about deleting it if you know it is incredibly wrong afterwards. I just wasn't sure what was going on 'in the background'.

[MichaelM]

A slight niggle is that the sentence code {age} - which uses the age stated in the census - adds the word "aged" in narrative reports, which results in sentences like

On 30 March 1841 he appeared on the census in Yeovil, Somerset, aged 25.

which is misleading when his actual age may have been, say, 29. The only way around that I can think of is to add "(stated)" after the age, which at least makes it clear, though it doesn't read very smoothly.

[tatewise]

Use {%FACT.AGE%} to just extract the field number, but remember to use < > in case there is no value.

[MichaelM]

I hadn't noticed that one. Thanks.

[tatewise]

When editing Sentence Templates use the << Insert Code > How to Use Advanced Features... option to get the Help page Sentence Template Codes.
Scroll up and down to review all the advice and you will find Data Reference alternatives to various codes.
Age is not mentioned explicitly but any %FACT...% data tags will work.

[MichaelM]

So it does. Thanks again