how to indicate calculated birth date?

Question

How should a birth date calculated from death date and specified (documented) lifespan be indicated?

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Thank you all for your thoughts, but there is another question it raises.  In this man's case, his date of death is well-documented, and his age is almost certainly sourced by his son, Charles J..  The calculation of his dob is easy to document in his bio, which I've done.

Is it acceptable to tickmark the calculated date as 'exact', or should it be 'approximate'?  I prefer the former.

Appreciate your thoughts!

Comments

There are several websites that can do  Age Calculations such as estimate a date of birth from date of death, and age at death.

 When I enter a date found this way I check the about/uncertain box under the date.

I have often used this one.

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~fgris/family/brown/agecalc.html

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Thank you, M. Ross.  Pretty sure I know how this is done, but will compare my result with the website you referenced.

Answer 1

I would discuss how his date of birth was estimated in his bio. You "could" instead put it in the Research Notes section, but I think DOB is sufficiently integral to a person's genealogical bio that the issue should be discussed directly in the bio.

Personally, I would NOT add the {{Estimated Date}} research notes box. These boxes can be used if you want to highlight an issue, but they are optional, and IMHO are unsightly and unnecessary.

Comments

I agree with Chase on not using the template here, for the reasons he gives and an additional one. The box it generates says the birthdate is a "rough estimate", but in this case the estimate is precise. (Whether it's accurate depends on whether the age at death is right, but that's a different question.)

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Good point, Jim.

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Thanks for the comment about precision, that was my concern about indicating 'estimated'.  It's as precise as the data provided.

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In full agreement with Ashley that the use of the estimated date box is unnecessary and just takes up space while a simple explanation for the estimate is sufficient.

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The "Estimated Date" template is for instances where a date is a rough estimate (for example, a date of birth that is estimated from the date of a child's birth). It should not be used for situations where a specific month and day of birth is calculated based on the age at death on a grave marker, nor where the year of birth is calculated from an age in years reported in a deposition or in a census record (unless there are large discrepancies in the dates calculated from different records).

Answer 2

Add {{Estimated Date}} directly above the ==Biography== header, then explain in the bio how you arrived at that estimate/calculation.  Also click the 'estimated' radio button next to the date itself.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Estimated_Dates

Comments

I agree with Ellen's comment on Chase's answer; the Estimated Date template should NOT be used in this situation.

This source says what date the person was born. The birthdate's in a format that requires a calculation to get the actual date it's referring to, but the source is giving a birthdate. It's not a source from the time of the birth, so I would mark the birthdate as "uncertain", but it is no more an estimated date than a birthdate found on the person's death certificate is an estimated date.

Answer 3

I use this website to calculate dates (note that it includes weeks, so pay attention to your data):

https://www.calculator.net/date-calculator.html .

I state in the biography that the date was calculated, linking the word calculated to the website.

I also include the Estimated Date template . I think I add a Research Note, too (but I may be lax in that step - ),

Answer 4

Whether calculated (age at an event), estimated (e.g. average age at marriage, implied as "before" or "after" a date by activity such as buying land or needing a guardian), or selected from conflicting options, it should be documented.

The dates we pick take on a life of their own, and can have unintended consequences, contributing to the creation of duplicated profiles, encouraging conflation, and even altering research avenues of subsequent researchers.

Some "calculations" can be complex involving interpretation beyond simple math. A person's census records over several decades may result in several different calculated birth years, sometimes differing by a decade or more.

The other answers posted provide several alternatives, each good. I would add that the complexity of the "calculation" should be considered. The census example might be best discussed in a Vital Statistics research note where each listed age can be discussed, as the discussion reflects OUR research and analysis of the sources, rather than the person's actual life.

A simple case like a person stating their age in their Will or in a court record works well directly in the Biography, and personalizes an often stale recounting of records.

I think use of the Estimated Date Research Note Box (defined as a "rough estimate") should always be accompanied by a research note. And if we replace an existing date, the prior date should be documented in the research notes to save subsequent researchers from having to repeat our analysis, and discourage destructive back and forth as one date is replaced with another date for usually mysterious reasons.

Comments

I made an attempt to get/use an Estimated Date Research Note box, but failed - got lost.   It emphasized I should not alter the template, but I didn't see means to just incorporate it.

Often 'help' invokes yet more process investigation.  Don't remember which specific topic it was, but encountered one very lengthy, rather like software acceptance T's & C's.

It made making progress very difficult and time-consuming.

There is so much to learn about Wikipedia; is there a guide or process that's not yet another tome?  

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Yes there is a lot to learn! One way to learn is by finding examples in profiles of something you need to do. Then edit that profile, see how it is done, and then "return to profile without saving" so as to not edit the profile.

Here is an example from a profile:

[[Category:Caroline County, Virginia]]

{{Estimated Date|Birth}}

{{US Southern Colonist|Virginia}}

== Biography ==

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The Estimated Date template help page shows the options (Birth, Death, Marriage, and more than one of these).

The template should be added above the Biography heading, after any categories and before any project templates as shown in the examples above.

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Thank you, Ken. Interesting you reference the Southern Colonists category, my mother's lineage.

And in any event, if other records offered conflicting birth dates, I would describe the differences.  

In this situation, his indicated date of birth is unusually consistent through 1870, 1875, 1880 and 1900 census: 1835 in all cases.