Analysis

The deposition age is decade-rounded (age heaping)

John's deposition age is a rounded self-report, not a birth date. Early-modern English deponents characteristically gave their ages to the nearest five or ten - the documented 'age heaping' preference for round numbers - and the Wilson v. Faxon file would be expected to show the same round-age pattern among its several deponents, though that file is an unpulled lead not examined here. Read strictly, 'aged 50 or thereabouts' in 1652/3 yields a birth about 1602/3; allowing for the rounding, John's true age could plausibly run from the middle forties to the middle fifties, so the deposition's probable birth range is about 1603-1608 and its possible range about 1598-1610. The datum shows John was an older rather than a younger man but does not fix a birth year.

Confidence: Moderate-high

Topic file location: Origin — age and baptism