Confirmation Age and Legal Age to Marry in the mid 1800's?

RVcook

Does anyone know at what age Irish Catholic children would have been confirmed in the mid 1800's? And also, what does "of full age" on a marriage record mean? 14?..18?..20?..21?..25?

I'm at my wits end with my Irish ggg-grandfather. His death record indicates his place of birth as Wexford from1848 - 1853 (dates taken from age on various census records), but the only record I could find for him was a marriage record in 1867 (which would suggest that the 1853 date is terribly incorrect or marrying at 14 was OK).

I have hand searched the obvious baptismal records, but I have come up empty. I know he WAS in Wexford (when he married), but I am beginning to doubt that he was actually born there. So now I'm going to tackle confirmation records. If I understand when a child could be confirmed, it would narrow my search. If I understand what "full age" to marry is, that could also narrow my search.

Thanks for any assistance.

Donna

A van Helsdingen

'Full age' on an Irish/UK marriage certificate in the 19th century means aged 21 or over.

Wikipedia's page "Western European Marriage Pattern" has the following remark about marriage in 19th century Ireland:

"Similarly, Ireland's age of marriage in 1830 was 23.8 for women and 27.47 for men where they had once been 21 and 25, respectively, and only about 10% of adults remained unmarried in 1840, they had respectively risen to 24.4 and 27.7; in the decades after the Great Famine, the age of marriage had risen to 28–29 for women and 33 for men and as much as a third of Irishmen and a fourth of Irishwomen never married due to chronic economic problems that discouraged early marriage"

The law in Ireland allowed marriage at 14 for boys and 12 for girls, but I doubt there were too many marriages at this age in rural post-famine Ireland.

The minimum age for confirmation in the Catholic Church is 7. It was commonly administered in the teenage years. There is no "default" age for receiving it. Each place and time had their own ideas about the best age to administer Confirmation.

Hayter David

@RVcooi - I've just noticed that I was tagged into this. I'm not overly sure of the age question either other than Full is over 21.

Re your variations in the dates of birth you have for what its worth on the English 1841 census dates were often rounded up or rounded down to the nearest 10, not always but apparently often enough. RE ages I feel that often people may have had an idea of when they were born but didn't attach the same importance to it as we do now and so as they got older they maybe got it wrong from time to time. Again not always but, often enough.

I have a relative born in Ireland - on the 1901 census in CO. Antrim yet on the 1911 census in Co. L'derry. Which one is correct? Dont know as we cant find a birth record.

Hope that helps. Irish records - dont you just love them😁

David

RVcook

Thank you A van Helsdingen for the information!

I had looked at that page a while back but it still wasn't clear to me as I had also sought other opinions and they varied from 14 and up. The other marriages on the same register had all their ages noted, but my ggg-grandparents did not. I appreciate the clarification so I can again look.

With being a 'very' Catholic family, it's difficult to believe that I can find absolutely nothing on either of them in Wexford so that is what leads me to believe that while they may have lived there, it is quite possible that both were born elsewhere...ughh...

Thanks again for your assistance. I truly do appreciate it :)

Donna

Shannon Potter Wilcox

@Hayter David Elder @Anthony1 do either of you know the answer to this question?

RVcook

Thanks everyone for your opinions. I guess I will go with 21 and older which, for purposes of their marriage record would put their birth dates about 1845.

It's frustrating not to be able to find either of them in any early records, but I understand that everyone has at least one 'elusive' relative that just doesn't want to be found...sigh...

Thanks again!

Donna