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Today I obtained the Death Certificate of my 2nd great grandfather Robert John Steven Sellers who died in Sydney on 18 Jan 1908.

In the picture below I am trying to read the middle of the three columns which is headed:

Where born and how long in the Australasian Colonies or States

I believe I have been able to make out all but one word (indicated by ??????).

Glasgow, 
Scotland
??????
4 years, 
Victoria
29 years,
South Australia
14 days, 
N.S.Wales

enter image description here

What is the word on the line after Scotland (which I have shown much larger below)? Could it just be "About"?

enter image description here

Where born is actually incorrect because he was born 1854 in Albany, New York, USA of parents who were British Subjects (they married 1850 in Glasgow).

He did live in Victoria for 4 years (1874-1878), and South Australia for 29 years (1878-1907) plus a few days before the 14 days he spent on leave in NSW.

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2 Answers 2

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It looks like "About" (compare it with the same word in the next column), which would make the entry read:

Glasgow, 
Scotland.

About
4 years, 
Victoria;
29 years, 
South Australia;
14 days, 
N.S.Wales.
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    I'd overlooked comparing it with the word in the third column, and am now confident I can read the whole column.
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Jan 17, 2018 at 12:12
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    I agree, it is surely 'About'. Funnily enough I found that the easiest word in the column to decipher and had to revert to your transcript to make sense of it all!
    – Jonfrayne
    Jan 18, 2018 at 10:04
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I agree that it is About. However, if I am correct the age given next to (2) appears to read 23 years not 29 years.

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    My question is about the middle column and you are reading from the right hand one. I agree that the right hand column number does look like 23 years, but that number is for years married, and they married on 2 Mar 1878 so I think it is probably an error and should have been 29 years too.
    – PolyGeo ♦
    Apr 28, 2018 at 11:12
  • @PolyGeo standard caution here that the information on a death certificate is only as good as the knowledge of the informant. It's not relevant to a palaeaography question, but for your research, I would nudge you to consider who gave the information.
    – Jan Murphy ♦
    Apr 28, 2018 at 18:07

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