Ruth family

Volunteers: Please see message from January 13 and replies.  https://irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/message-board/ruth-family-0

Thank you yes I did look back and Johns  Denomination was  RC, it looks like the second one 1834 . I have his  military papers which state he joined the army in Kilkenny at the age of 23 and a half on the 25/8/1858.  I tried to work out his birth year from that.  It also states in 1871 his whole family were back from Australia living in military barracks in Devon port in and at that time it states he was not 33 years old! Does that make sense? Many  thanks. Rosie.

Rosie:

I don't know if the 1834 record I sent you earlier (with parents Richard Ruth and Bridget Walsh) is correct but using that record, he would have been 36-37 in 1871.

Roger

Hi Roger.  I’m confused myself ! To me if John Ruth was 23 years and a half when he joined the army in 1858 surly wouldn’t that make his birth year 1834/5 ?  Many thanks Rosie.

Rosie:

People in  the 19th century were not as exact with ages as we are in the 21st century. So you find conflicting age information on many documents. They made it difficult for us family researchers 

Roger