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.