Census records are not the only ones that may provide your ancestor's age. Affidavits in pension applications, statements made in court, or other records may also give the age of your ancestor. These statements may be particularly helpful for individuals who died in the United States before the 1850 census began asking for specific ages.
I notate the all dates/ages as I review Census records [and all documents with vital dates and/or proposed ages especially at Ancestry.com Tree]; this allows a working estimate of the vital dates. Especially with Census records, many people did not know their specific date of their birth, or the reporting source may have guessed or not know the correct date/age.
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