Genealogy Chat

I think it is still an achievement .................. now because divorce is so easy and people give up on marriage. Back then because people didn't always live long enough.

Don't forget though that many marriages in the past did last a long time, but often unhappily because there were just as many mis-matches as now but people couldn't easily divorce.

I well remember one of my friends who was raised by her grandparents who had not spoken to each other for at least 30 years that she knew of. They lived in the same house but operated as 2 separate households!

Thank you for your replies.

My mother, her mother and her mother appear to have been married 50 years. I will achieve this if I and my husband survive until next month.

I need to check the date of my greatgrandfather's death.

Monica

OH's sis has just had her Golden wedding, we are 44 years. Both our fathers died in their 50's. My grandparents had 53 years, but grandad was a lot older than granny. My uncle and aunt had 57 years. A pair of g grandparents had 57 years. My gg grandparents were married for 61 years.

why did you ask????

We've just celebrated our 50th last weekend.

My parents only got to 33 years before my mother died

Maternal grandparents were married 52 years when grandmother died ..... and she was only 72! They married when she was 19 and he was 17.

Paternal grandparents were only married 21 years before he died of TB ...... but I've heard anecdotally via grandmother that it was a happy release for her!


Haven't worked out any others longevity, but assume not as they all had very hard lives!


OH's parents got to 48 years before father died. Her side all seemed to have one spouse who died fairly young.

F-i-l's side had some long-lived marriages .............. OH's gt gt grandfather on that side was married for 38 years from 1831 to 1868, before he and his wife died 6 weeks apart. They had 20 children, first child born 5 months after their marriage and the last child being born in 1860 ............if you work it out, she was pregnant and/or nursing for about 30 years. She died age 54 of Chronic Failure of the Heart!

It was probably this couple, so she died soon after that 1911, but he kept going:
Deaths Sep 1911
Warren Charlotte B 86 Wandsworth 1d 558
Deaths Jun 1918
Warren George C 88 Wandsworth 1d 564

Her age is out compared to 1911 census, though.

And marriage:
Marriages Mar 1856
Warren George Christopher Islington 1b 253
Wetenhall Charlotte Islington 1b 253

DetEcTive,
You are well on the way, keep going.

Met a couple on Sunday who had been married 60 years on the Thursday. They were in their gypsy caravan (at a tractor show). She no longer drives the tractor, but still cycles to the shops.

So far we've been married for 42 years - we've got a few years to go yet.

OH's parents have (so far) been married for 69 years, His paternal grandparents were married 57 years & one set of paternal grt grandparents also 57 years. Does that count? :-)

No, we have not got that, but lots of ancestors on both sides lived into 70's, 80's and 90's, just not necessarily married to each other, or first marriages.

Then, out of interest, started looking at 1911 census, to see lengths of marriages there. Did not take long to find a couple of 82 and 83, married 55 years, 3 children. Too late tonight to see when they died. Lots in 1911 who had been married 30 and 40 years could have kept going for a lot longer. Not yet managed to find any statistics on marriages from 1850's onwards.

OH and I have been married 57 years, but for further back I was going to say highly unlikely, until I did a bit of arithmetic!!

Nobody reached 50, but I have several who made 40+. There are none on OH's side, as most of his male ancestors died young, leaving their widows to live to a ripe old age.

A great aunt and her husband are the only ones in my own family, to have seen their Golden Wedding.

My in-laws reached 66 years, before father-in-law died.
His wife is now 96.

We were married for 58 years

I was 20 and hubby was 23 when we married

I lost him in oct 2015 .it would have been our Diamond anniversary two weeks ago on the 3rd Aug

But we were each other's best friend too and had been together for 60 years

Mum and dad made 45 years to dad passing away

Hubby's parents were married for over 50 years . I remember going to their 50th
Anniversary party

I should imagine that would not happen in many families. Someone old enough now to have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary may well have had great grandparents born in the mid 1800s when life expectancy was much shorter than now. I'm in my 60s and only one set of great grandparents were alive in my lifetime. My mother was only 10 years old when her paternal grandmother died. Both her grandfathers and her other grandmother had died more than 10 years before her birth. All 3 of them died in their 50s.

Were you, your parents, your grandparents and great grandparents all married 50 years?