Alan Cathcart, 1st Lord Cathcart - Dates

Hi Ken,

DOBs for the 15th century are almost certainly calculated as there was no one keeping records of such events back then.

As different historians/genealogists/researchers will estimate DOBs using different methods when date estimates from different trees are brought together in a crowd sourced tree like Geni it ends up being a common occurrence that the dates conflict.

By the by, there's no Marion in this family, I assume you are referring to Margaret (or Marion) Cathcart

As an example of meaningless dates made by estimating Alan Cathcart, 1st Lord Cathcart is as good an example as you'll find.

His profile stats currently show Birth: circa 1424
Cathcart, Renfrewshire, England
Death: 03 October 1497 (68-77)
Ayrshire, Scotland

But if you read the summary in his About is says:
Born 1393 Cathcart, Renfrewshire, Scotland
Died Bef 03 Oct 1497 Cathcart, Renfrewshire, Scotland

In this case I'd suggest the vital stats look more likely than Alan living to 104 years of age, but this is just me making an assumption based on an unsupported death date and choosing from two arbitrary DOBs so I could be 100% incorrect, as could this profile.