It sounds like you have looked through several resources and thought about this a little as well. Are you certain that the Simeon you found in Brown county is the same as your Simeon? Your grandmother should appear as a family member in the 1870 and 1880 Censuses.

 

Fathering children at 60 and 70 is not as unlikely as it is for women giving birth at that age. If the 1870 Census ages are not off for his wife, Martha, she was 50 that year and had had a child seven months previous. The child born about 1866 was named Joseph. The nearest daughter  to that year was Nancy, By 1880 Martha has grown a year younger, age 49, which now makes her 28 years younger than Simeon. This age matches much better with child bearing years and Martha is listed as his wife in the relationships column. All the children are gone except the youngest who was born in 1869.

 

The 1870 ages cannot be trusted, but I believe the list of individuals can be. Put along side with some of the other census information, you should be able to get a fair approximation of the ages. If Simeon is your ancestor, the most consistent set of ages appears to come from the Census.

 

I obviously don’t have all the information, I’m only saying that for what ever reason, someone, possibly Simeon, was reporting his age incorrectly for some records but was consistent in 3 out of 4 censuses.

 

Sincerely,

Ken Huffman

 

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2004 9:27 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Brown County Query

 

Thanks for replying. My problem is that his Civil War records indicate he was 43 when he was discharged in 1863. If he was born in 1802 he would have been 61 at time of discharge. Also, my grandmother was born in 1866 which would make him 64 years old at the time.

Never mind putting it out on query. It's just one of those things that baffle me. Thanks again. Les