“If 2013 keeps going the way it has BEEN going, crime-wise, we are about to experience the LOWEST MURDER RATE SINCE 1906…
That’s not just lower than when WE were kids. That’s lower than when our grannies and even great-grandparents were kids.”
I’m not that old (under 50) and one set of my grandparents were adults with children in 1906, which makes me wonder how unusual that is (my other set of grandparents, I’ll admit weren’t born in 1906 - but their parents (my great-grandparents) were already adults then). To go back to when my earliest great-grandparent was a kid is a lot early than 1906.
Three of my four grandparents were born in 1906. The other in 1902.
A number of my generation on both sides of the family are grandparents, several are great grandparents and one has a great great grandchild. That makes six generations of my family born from 1906 to the present.
I’m a little older (61) and all my grandparents were adults in 1906. If the murder rate had stayed low for another 10 years, we’d be talking about my parents.
I’m 38, and while I’m not sure what years my great-grandparents were born, that sounds about right. I know my maternal grandmother was born in 1926, and my maternal grandfather was born in 1920. (Their daughter, my mom, was born in 1948). So if their folks were in their 20s when they were born, they’d have been born right around the turn of the century, and “kids” in 1906.
My mother’s father was 27 in 1906, and had two children with his first wife, who later died. My mother’s mother, his second wife, was 17 that year. My mother was born when her father was 51. On my mother’s side, my great grandfather was a kid in the 1850s in Ireland.
My father’s father was 5 years old, and my father’s mother was 6. My father was born when his father was 25. On my grandmother’s side, my great grandfather was a kid during the Civil War (in which his father died).
Not in my family. I’m in my mid-fifties but all my grandparents were born between 1888 and 1896. One grandfather was the penultimate of a dozen or so kids whose father was a Civil War vet.
And so on, all the way back. I’m only 11 generations removed from an ancestor who arrived in New Amsterdam, as an adult, around 1640.
I’m afraid I nitpick about such silly stuff, that some Dopers have already made an armchair diagnosis of autism for me. But there’s no sense stopping now.
Setting aside cultural variations, there is a pronounced difference between average age of father at birth, and average age of mother at birth. 30 years and 24 years respectively might be fair estimates. The difference – ignored in a huge majority of discussions – may be minor for many purposes but certainly affects some estimations.
I stumbled upon an ancestor list which illustrates the point. It shows the purely agnatic and purely uterine ancestors of Albert, husband of Queen Victoria. His purely agnatic 26-great grandfather was born in the 9th century. His purely uterine 26-great grandmother was born in the 12th century.
I’ve “Spoilered” the list, not because it’s unsafe for children, but because it’s boring and tedious even by autistimus’ standard.
Even if you’re unfamiliar with Kekulé numbering, this data should be understandable. The even-numbered males form a chain of father’s father’s father’s father’s …, while the odd-numbered females form a chain of mother’s mother’s mother’s …
1 Albert Augustus Charles of SAXE-COBURG-GOTHA 1819 - 1861
2 Ernst I (Duke) of SAXE-SAALFELD-COBURG 1784 - 1844
3 Luise Dorothea of SAXE-GOTHA 1800 - 1831
4 Francis Frederick (Duke) of SAXE-COBURG 1750 - 1806
7 Louise Charlotte of MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN 1779 - 1801
8 Ernest Frederick (Duke) of SAXE-COBURG 1724 - 1800
15 Luise (Princess) of SACHSEN-GOTHA 1756 - 1808
16 Franz Josias (Duke) of SACHSEN-COBURG 1697 - 1764
31 Louise (Princess) of REUSS-SCHLEIZ 1726 - 1773
32 Johann Ernst (Duke) of SACHSEN-SAALFELD 1658 - 1729
63 Juliana Dorothea zu LOWENSTEIN-WERTHEIM 1694 - 1734
64 Ernst I the Pious' (Duke) of SACHSEN-GOTHA 1601 - 1675 127 Juliana (Juliana-Dorothee) de LIMPURG-GAILDORF 1677 - 1734 128 Johann (Duke) of SAXE-WEIMAR 1570 - 1605 255 Elisabetha Dorothea of LIMPURG-GAILDORF 1656 - 1712 256 Johann Wilhelm (Duke) of SAXE-WEIMAR 1530 - 1573 511 Elisabeth-Dorothee de LIMPURG-SONTHEIM 1639 - 1691 512 Johann Friedrich I (Elector) of SAXONY 1503 - 1554 1023 Dorothea Maria zu HOHENLOHE-WALDENBURG 1618 - 1695 1024 Johann (Elector) of SAXONY 1468 - 1532 2047 Dorothea von ERBACH 1593 - 1643 2048 Ernst de WETTIN (Elector) of SAXONY 1441 - 1486 4095 Marie von BARBY 1563 - 1619 4096 Frederick II Ernest (Elector) of SAXONY 1412 - 1464 8191 Maria von ANHALT 1538 - 1563 8192 Frederick I/IV de WETTIN (Elector) of SAXONY 1370 - 1428 16383 Margarethe of BRANDENBURG 1511 - 1551? 16384 Frederick III Strenge’ of SAXONY 1333 - 1381
32767 Elisabeth OLDENBURG 1485? - 1555
32768 Frederick II de WETTIN (Landgrave THURINGIA) 1310 - 1349
65535 Christina (of SAXONY) WETTIN 1461 - 1521
65536 Friedrich I (Landgrave) von THURINGIA 1257 - 1323
131071 Elizabeth von WITTELSBACH of BAVARIA-MUNCHEN 1443 - 1484
131072 Albrecht II (Margrave) von THURINGIA 1240? - 1315
262143 Anna WELF of BRUNSWICK-GRUBENHAGEN 1415? - 1474
262144 Heinrich III MEISSEN of THURINGIA 1215? - 1288
524287 Elisabeth of BRUNSWICK-GOTTINGEN ? - 1444
524288 Dietrich (Margrave) of MEISSEN 1162? - 1221
1048575 Marguerite de BERG 1364? - 1442?
1048576 Otto the Rich' (Margrave) of MEISSEN 1125? - 1190 2097151 Anne von WITTELSBACH 1346? - 1415 2097152 Konrad the Great’ von GROITZSCH-ROCHLITZ 1098? - 1157
4194303 Beatrice of SICILY (& ARAGON) 1326? - 1365
4194304 Thiemo I/II (Count) von WETTIN
8388607 Elizabeth von KAERNTEN ? - 1352+
8388608 Thimo I von WETTIN ? - 1076+
16777215 Eufemia of SILESIA-LIEGNITZ ? - 1347
16777216 Dietrich II im HASSEGAU 991? - 1034
33554431 Elzbieta PIAST von POLEN-KALISCH 1263? - 1304
33554432 Dedi I Count in North HESSEGAU 946? - 1009
67108863 Jolan/Ilona/Helen ARPAD of HUNGARY 1241? - 1298?
67108864 Dietrich I im HESSEGAU ? - ca 976
134217727 Maria LASKARINA (-NIKAIA) 1206? - 1270?
134217728 poss. Volkmar in HARZGAU
268435455 Anna ANGELINA KOMNENE 1176? - 1212?
268435456 Frederick II in HARZGAU ? - ca 945
536870911 Euphrosyne KAMATERINA DOUKANIA 1143? - 1211?
All four of my granparents were alive in 1906. Three of them were small children, but my paternal grandfather turned 30 that year. (He had my father when he was in his 50s.) That grandfather graduated from Columbia University about 1900 or 1901 (will have to look that up) and may or may not have moved out to Hollywood, California by 1906 in the pre-movie days following his brother. But he did eventually move out there, where he had all of his children.
But I’ve always considered a generation roughly 20 years as a rule of thumb.
I’m 59. In 1906, I think my mom’s grandparents had already come to the US from Poland, but her parents were still a few years from being born. I doubt that my dad’s parents had emigrated yet since they were very young teens, but I do know they were married in the states in 1916. His grandparents never left Poland.
My mom was born when her mother was 20, I was born when my mom was 20, and my daughter was born when I was 31. My daughter is 27, divorced, and childless - who knows when or if there will be a next generation for me…
Not quite answering the OP’s question, but I have a grandson who was born last year. I have been able to trace (in one branch of the family tree) back 13 generations from him to an ancestor born in 1625, i.e., 387 years before he was born. That is pretty close to an average of 30 years for each generation.
However, as far as 1906 goes – my parents were not yet born, two of my grandparents had been married for about 10 years, and the other two had not yet married each other, since they married in 1911 (one was married to another wife, who would die before he remarried – I’ve once met a descendant of that marriage).
My great grandfather ( mother’s side ) arrived in the US from Scotland in 1877 at the age of 12. Some years later he married another immigrant from Scotland. My great grandparents on my dad’s side arrive from Ireland in 1910. That’s as far back as I have looked but I plan to do a bit more searching.
I’m not sure exactly. My Dad was born in 1929, and both his parents had died before he met my Mum. Let’s see if I can find some dates online…
Hmm. My Grandmother on my Dad’s side was born in 1892 and died in 1958. She would’ve been 12 in 1906. (Holy crap, I just found their wedding portrait from probably around 1922 or so)
My Great-Grandparents on my Mum’s side would’ve been in their 20s in 1906. I can’t find any specifics anywhere.
I’m 37 and my grandparents were all born in the 1920’s. But my great aunts and uncles were born anywhere from the mid 1910’s to the early 1950’s. That means I have cousins who are my age but technically of my mother’s generation, and other cousins who are my age but technically of my niece’s generation.
Trying to figure generation length really only works if you’re having a fairly small number of children fairly close together. You get into situations where someone has 10 or so children over the course of 20 years or more, it’s much, much harder. My great-grandmother was somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 when she had my grandmother, and over 40 when she had my youngest great-uncle. (She and Grandma were pregnant at the same time and apparently used to sit around together eating pickles and watching their ankles swell.)
My story’s not very interesting or very different from those already mentioned, so I’ll just interject that President John Tyler, who died 151 years ago, still has living grandchildren.
But there’s no sense stopping now.
