Genealogy Chat

Here is something to make you go through your records and take your mind of other 'issues'.

Pursuant to a 'conversation' on another thread - how wide a generation can you find?

I said 30 years plus, SylviainCanada came up with 40.

I was looking at the wrong family. First grandchild born 1908 last born 1954 = 46. Luckily for us some the that earliest family were/are very long lived.

Now I'm off to look at even older family to see if I can better my own score.

I have great-grandparents who had their first grandchild in 1897 and the last in 1945.
Their first two grandchildren were born before they had the last two of their own eighteen children in 1900 and 1903.

Umm. 48 years - think I'm going to struggle to beat that one.

I thought I'd do well with a family born over 20 years but the grandchildren all seem to have been born within 10 years of each other.

Adeline

Seems no one can beat your 48 years!

What are the rules here? Is it limited to grandchildren? If not then surely the chances of a wider range increase if you consider great grand children and so on.

Some further explanation!

You obviously need a large family to begin with to create a wide generation further down the line. My great-grandparents were married in 1876 when my great-grandmother was nineteen. Her first child was born in 1877 and the last of the eighteen children in 1903. There were nine sons and nine daughters and all lived to a good age except one who died in 1919 in a train accident while returning from service in WW1.

As I said yesterday, their thirty grandchildren were born over a 48 year span. The father of the the last one born in 1945 did not marry until he was in his mid forties.

The grandparents died aged 81 and 96 respectively so perhaps producing many children is the recipe for living a long life!

Oh dear - never thought of rules.

I must have met most of my group, not some of the younger ones and I suspect that Adeline has met most of hers too.

I think it is too hot to plough through more generations.

I thought I could beat 48yrs too but ..
My dad's eldest sister was born in 1910 and his youngest brother was born in 1929.
Sister's first child ( first grandchild) was born 1930
Brother's youngest child ( youngest grandchild) was born in 1972

That's still only 42yrs difference!

However, what I do have in my tree is a lot of generations in a short time!
This is my direct line ancestry via my mum:
All were the eldest child in their family, and all had their first chid at around 20yrs of age:


ggg grandmother born 1845
gg grandmother born 1867
g grandmother born 1887
grandmother born 1910
my mother born 1930
my brother born 1950
my niece in 1972
my great nephews (twins) in 1993

8 x generations over 148years!

My grandfather was born in 1872. He had 10 children from 2 marriages, the youngest (my mother) being born in 1923.
His youngest grandchild, my brother, was born in 1951 & grandfather died in 1953.
I always marvel at the fact that I can actually remember someone who was born in 1872 & I´m lucky enough to be in touch with several of his grandchildren from his first marriage.