02 June 2020

Ontario Civil Registration Deaths Updated for 1948 Show Remarkable Longevity

You likely saw announcements that Ancestry added records for 1948 to its collection Ontario, Canada, Deaths and Deaths Overseas, 1869-1948. There were 42,839 records for deaths in Ontario. A search by gender finds 23,731 were male, 19,130 female. Apparently, there were 22 that were both!


Two transcript records, one a man, one a woman show remarkable longevity. 

Name: Thomas Charles Drake
Gender: Male
Race: English
Age: 48
Birth Date: 2 May 1800
Birth Place: England
Death Date: 10 May 1948

Name: Vera Olive Barrett
[Vera Olive Weston] 
Gender: Female
Race: English
Age: 53
Birth Date: 10 Sep 1804
Birth Place: SARNIA, Ontario
Death Date: 27 Feb 1948

For Drake the year was corrected to 1900 from 1800 on the original certificate, for Barrett the birth on the original certificate is 10 September 1894 so clearly a transcription error. These stand out as anomalous serving as a reminder to always check the original records even when the transcription seems reasonable. Expect errors like misreading 7 for 1 and 8 for 9 owing to unclear handwriting. Less obvious errors are not uncommon. 

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