unknown birth/death dates

Question

Is there any way to add people to my tree when I have no way of finding out their birth and/or death dates?

Comments

Will you please give us more information so that we can help you with this all too common problem? Names, country, locations, time frame ... all these will help us help you find birth and/or death dates or at least to make an educated guess.

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Regarding time frame- most recent example:  my late mother was the youngest in a very large family, born in 1925.  Some of her older siblings died in infancy, or shortly after birth.  She has no surviving siblings, and of her only sibling that has kids they don't have any info.  I assume all of her siblings were born in Westchester County, NY, but they were all born at home (except her).

I'd hate to do her part of the tree and leave them out, because it'd be like they never existed.

Her parents' names were William Henry Dyckman Sr. and Martha Frances Lent Dyckman.  Her maiden name was Sarah Ellen Dyckman.

Answer 1

Birh date OR Death date is requiered when adding a new profile. So you can use your best guess for any of both dates based on marriage date, children's birth dates, etc.

Answer 2

Calculate approximate birth year from census then look for other documents

Name:    William Dyckman
Titles and Terms:    
Event Type:    Census
Event Date:    1930
Event Place:    Buchanan, Westchester, New York, United States
District:    ED 97
Gender:    Male
Age:    56
Marital Status:    Married
Race:    White
Race (Original):    White
Relationship to Head of Household:    Head
Relationship to Head of Household (Original):    Head
Birth Year (Estimated):    1874
Birthplace:    New York
Immigration Year:    
Father's Birthplace:    New York
Mother's Birthplace:    New York
Sheet Letter:    B
Sheet Number:    2
Sheet Number and Letter:    2B
Household ID:    43
Line Number:    83
Affiliate Name:    The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Affiliate Publication Number:    T626
Affiliate Film Number:    1659
GS Film Number:    2341393
Digital Folder Number:    004952245
Image Number:    00381

Household    Role    Sex    Age    Birthplace
William Dyckman    Head    M    56    New York
Martha Dyckman    Wife    F    50    New York
William Dyckman Jr.    Son    M    22    New York
Ida Dyckman    Daughter    F    19    New York
Martha Dyckman    Daughter    F    14    New York
Charles Dyckman    Son    M    10    New York
Sadie Dyckman    Daughter    F    5    New York

 

Citing this Record:
"United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X4GQ-QN7 : accessed 29 April 2017), William Dyckman, Buchanan, Westchester, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 97, sheet 2B, line 83, family 43, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 1659; FHL microfilm 2,341,393.

Comments

Thank you for this!

The eldest 2 daughters would have been adults living on their own by then, but there are still 4 unaccounted for-  Frank died around 2 yrs old;  Esther Lillian and her twin whose name I can't place died shortly after birth; plus another.

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Chances are there won't be online docs for them. Possible the newspaper in Buchanan printed  birth notices. A friendly librarian might be able to locate notices in local papers. Call then write a letter, enclose SASE, negotiate a nice little research fee, beg. This technique does work. I beg unashamedly and library ladies sometimes cave and do it?

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I imagine New York has a 100-year rule for birth registrations. With this in mind a nice mention in the biographies of their parents and your mother may be the best you can do. You can use the template {{DateGuess}} ( I think that's it) to come up with an estimate.

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You should update the template to {{Estimated Date}}:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Research_Note_Boxes

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Estimated_Date