Genealogy Chat

A while ago I got my gt X 3grandfather, Robert Chowns' death cert. He died 1872 at the age of 93.

Just got another 3 X grt grandpa's death cert, he died 1862 of old age aged 92. Must have been the clean country air and eating homegrown veggies!

My great grandmothers niece died in her 90's of old age. The only one in the family to do so so far. She never married or had children so probably had a less stressful life to live that long.

LOL Nell, Just adds weight to the older generation who are fond of quoting 'a little hard work never hurt anyone'!! Fuzzy

Both Robert and William died of old age!

Hi Laura, my thoughts exactly. I cringe when I see how many kids each woman had in their lifetime 100 years ago and in short spaces of time. Oh well at least they were 'active'.

And never got the chance to suffer from PMT lol!

Ive got generations of them in their 80s or 90s (ag labs). I can only think it was a case of survival of the fittest. If you got past childhood (and just think, a cut finger back then could kill you with no antibiotics) then past about 45 - they just seemed to go on forever. I was truly amazed when I started this research to see just how long they lived - we were always giving the impression they popped off by 40.

I don't think TB was as rampant in country areas as in towns - plus ag labs got plenty of fresh air and usually eggs and milk as a part of their wage.It's certainly not mentioned as frequently in burial registers. Jay

My g-g-g-g grandmother (born 1751) had 10 children and lived to be 88, dying of Old Age. Her husband was an Ag Lab, although admittedly, according to the 'Return of Men and Carts' for Bamburgh for 1798, he had his own cart, so maybe a slightly upmarket Ag Lab. Either way, they can't have been exactly well off. I reckon she must have been a tough old bird! Tina

I was having a quick look at the parish records for Hambleden, Bucks last night - there are several people in a few years recorded as being 100 or over 100 at burial. It's a small rural community so - although I would take the records with a pinch of salt:) - there must have been something good in the air:)

OC Are you implying that it was my grandmother who was born in 1751? How old would that make me? - No, on second thoughts, don't answer that! Tina PS - Just saw what you meant and deleted other entry. It's not me who has hiccups today, it's GR.

Many of mine lived to ripe old ages.........I get very angry when the daily Mail keeps saying ''In Victorian times you couldn't expect to live past 45'' or whatever! It gives the wrong impression. Maybe it's a bit like people who lived through WW2? The war rations diet and lack of motorised transport kept those who were well really fit and healthy. Not like us couch potatoes sitting here bashing our keyboards and filling our tummies with ready meals and takeaways! Merry

But Merry, if we did not rely on ready meals and take-aways, we would not have time to sit here at our keyboards. The answer is obviously for the manufacturers to produce healthy ready meals, and the take-aways to provide delivered-to-your-door salads etc (using locally sourced, fresh produce of course). And perhaps once an hour GR should have a 'Fitness Five', when all the boards etc shut down for five minutes and instead of seeing that irritating 'Happy Genes' message, we get someone instructing us on skipping, or press-ups. People could enter in their initial level of fitness and then they could get a tailored plan to suit them - people with the same plan could be grouped together and follow each other's progress. They could call them 'Fitmatches', a bit like hotmatches only .............................................. hmm - I've just noticed the flaw in this scheme. Tina

Tina, The day GR start giving us fitness classes, I'm off, lol. Kath. x

Tina - have you taken leave of your senses????!!!!!!!! lol Pass the marshmallows! Merry

Sorry, it's the heat, it's frying my brain. Tina

My wifes GGGrandmother born Northumberland 1824,died in 1914 aged 90,after falling on rough ground and breaking her hip while out shooting rabbits!! Bred them tough in those days.

Tina, I love your idea - suggest it to GR - perhaps they could also send us each a colonic irrigation set so we werent just sitting here but actually benefiting from a good sort out.

Merry Its that old chestnut again - life expectancy in Vocitorian times was 45 years blah blah blah - that was an AVERAGE. So for every new born baby who died, someone else lived to be 90, to give an average of 45. I too have been utterly astonished at how OLD my early ancestors were when they died - routinely 70, lots 80 and a good few over 90. As I also have their baptisms, I know its correct. These were country people, lost few babies, very few died in childbirth. It is markedly different when they all head for the towns and cities in the mid-1800s. TB kills most of them, childbirth and cholera kills the rest. OC