My favorite story on the subject relates to a relative of mine who married the relative of a friend of mine - close to a century ago. The friend and I had no idea previously that we were related. So we started searching for more documents, and it became apparent that both of our relatives were lying through their teeth to each about their ages. A wonderful way to begin a marriage...
Meron Lavie
Original Message From: Joseph Hirschfield [mailto:JOECYP@...]
It was fairly common to misstate one's age, especially for women and especially after 1920. An unmarried women in her twenties was already considered a spinster, an unpleasant appellation. Also some women were older than their husbands. This was a no no in American culture.
Also with changes in the immigration law after 1920, an unmarried child over 21 could not be brought to America under his/her father's naturalization. Frequently married men arrived in the US first, and brought over their wives and children after establishing a nest egg. Sometimes there was a delay, such as in my grandfather's case because of WWI and the Russian revolution, so that by the time the family was available to come over, it was after 1920 and my grandfather was already a citizen. He could only bring over unmarried children under 21. Therefore, like dominos, some of the children's ages were reduced so that even the older ones could be designated
