# Earliest year someone you met was born **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 13, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362 "2009-05-13T23:57:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/21 "2009-05-14T08:02:35Z")
My great-grandmother, who I met on several occasions. I don’t really remember much about her, though. She died on her 102nd birthday in 1982, when I was 11. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/22 "2009-05-14T08:30:43Z")
I only vaguely remember one of my great-grandmothers, who died when I was just a few years old. Since my grandfather was born around 1880, I’m guessing she was probably born sometime in the 1850s. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/23 "2009-05-14T10:21:49Z")
I once helped a 96 y/old retired professor write up an article on nemertode worms. He was born in 1902, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/24 "2009-05-14T11:06:34Z")
My grandfather was born in 1879- that is about it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/25 "2009-05-14T11:14:20Z")
Due to a string of youngest sons marrying late my grandfather was 92 when he died in 1976. Most of my friends had grandfathers who served in WWII. I had a grandfather that was too old to be in WWI. He was an adult before cars started to become popular. On the other side of the family my grandmother is alive and will be 102 in a few weeks. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/26 "2009-05-14T12:02:14Z")
Back in about 1965 I attended my great grandmother’s 100th birthday party. So she would have been born about 1865. I only met her the once and she didn’t make 101. I don’t think I’ve met, much less remember today, very many men from much before 1900. As a child I didn’t have much contact with retirees or elderly outside of our small extended family. The oldest men I remember were the great grandmother’s children. They were born in about 1896, about 1899, and (my grandfather) in 1902. It’s interesting to notice that I don’t know these dates exactly, have no records to look them up, and nobody to ask. Apparently my family is not leaving a real deep furrow in history. More like a ripple on the pond, soon to be gone without a trace. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/27 "2009-05-14T12:34:44Z")
I met my great-gram, who lost her husband in World War I. We figured she was born around 1895. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/28 "2009-05-14T13:22:14Z")
My paternal grandmother was born in 1873. She lived with us when I was a young child. The thing that I remember the most about her was watching the old Wyatt Earp TV show one day and having her remark that Hugh O’Brian didn’t look anything like Wyatt Earp. Turns out when she was a young girl, Earp was friends with her father and used to eat dinner at their house a couple of times a month while he was a police officer in Dodge City. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/29 "2009-05-14T14:41:50Z")
Two of my great-grandmothers, both were born in the 1890s. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/30 "2009-05-14T15:39:51Z")
My late uncle was born in 1915 and I remember his mother pretty well, I think she was in her nineties when she died so I’m going to say she was probably born around 1885. He had two older sisters. ETA: She always brought the peach cobbler. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/31 "2009-05-14T15:50:12Z")
I’m 27, my grandad died when I was a toddler and he was born in 1889. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/32 "2009-05-14T15:53:52Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I’m 27, my grandad died when I was a toddler and he was born in 1889. Wow, we’re the same age and your grandfather was born around the time my great-great-grandfather was born. Do you come from a line of youngest children? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/33 "2009-05-14T16:13:58Z")
> [@Cisco](#): > > Wow, we’re the same age and your grandfather was born around the time my great-great-grandfather was born. Do you come from a line of youngest children? Yeah, my dad, the youngest was born in 1941. I was his youngest, born in 1981. ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/34 "2009-05-14T16:26:21Z")
My maternal great-grandfather - born in 1871 - farmed in the Fraser Valley until the day he died at 88 My maternal grandfather - born in 1887/died 1958 My maternal great-great aunt - born in 1878/died in 1977- she used to knit me socks (very bright, vividly coloured socks :eek:). My husband’s grandmother - born 1897/died 1991 ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/35 "2009-05-14T23:00:00Z")
One lady I knew at church as a kid told great stories about her dad who was a mining engineer…They travelled all over the country in a buck board wagon. She never said specifically but little clues led us to conclude that she had been born in or around 1880. My great-grandmother, who I met but only dimly recall was born in 1887. A lady I know at church now celebrates her 100th birthday this year. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/36 "2009-05-15T01:02:51Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > I had a great-grandmother who was over 100 in the early '60’s. I didn’t interact with her much, but I met her on many occasions. I’ll see if I can get a DOB. I misremembered how old “Granny” was, but she was born in [1868](http://records.ancestry.com/Lucy%20May%20Bartley_records.ashx?pid=30594415). A surprising fourth? ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/37 "2009-05-15T01:31:29Z")
I knew one great grandfather who was born in 1896, he died in 1984. I also meet, though don’t really remember a great grandmother who was born in 1892 and she died in 1983. I remember my great grandfather a bit as he lived near my grandmother. I have photos of both with me. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/38 "2009-05-15T03:17:17Z")
I met a man who was pushing a hundred when I was a kid, so probably the 1860’s. My paternal grandma was born about 1892 or so and my maternal nanny was 1902. My dad was born in 1913 - yes, I’m from his second marriage! ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/39 "2009-05-15T03:35:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My maternal grandmother was born in 1905, so that’s the earliest one I can put an exact year on … Ah, I just remembered my paternal grandmother was born about or slightly before 1900. She died when I was 8, so I never knew her too well. Only saw her maybe two or three times, only once that I can remember, unlike my maternal grandmother, who did not die until I was in my late 30s. But I still can’t peg her year exactly, so my maternal grandmother still wins out at 1905. (Actually, I have family records with my paternal grandmother’s birthdate squirreled away somewhere, but I’m not about to go digging through looking for them. She would win if I did.) And my paternal grandmother, the one born about 1900, is the one who married my grandfather who was born in 1876. Quite the cradle robber he was, hehehe. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362/40 "2009-05-15T04:54:14Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > I misremembered how old “Granny” was, but she was born in [1868](http://records.ancestry.com/Lucy%20May%20Bartley_records.ashx?pid=30594415). > > A surprising fourth? Other Google hits give her DOB in 1869. Still fourth oldest? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/earliest-year-someone-you-met-was-born/496362.md?page=3)