# My Father Can Beat Up Your Father's Birthday (Oldest Father Poll) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 4, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973 "2005-01-04T03:35:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/21 "2005-01-05T04:57:31Z")
Guess I’m done. Only eighteen years between my parents. By virtue of having an older half-sister, I was also born an aunt, twice over. How about the Odd Couple Award? Dad was about 5’4", Mom was just shy of 5’11" ! ---
**Author:** ![truthbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@truthbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthbot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/22 "2005-01-05T04:58:20Z")
It seems that **ArchiveGuy** ’s parental units have the May/December trophy. **AC** ’s father must have been a handsome devil. _Wink_ But haven’t we gotten off track here? Isn’t the contest for the father born in the earliest year?? Was this thread spawned by the reality show “Who’s your Daddy (pre-1900) 🙂 ?” ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/23 "2005-01-05T05:34:04Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > So, due to the vagaries of love and May-December marriages, my father was 75 when I was born. I’ll be 41 on 28 January '05. How old was your mother? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/24 "2005-01-05T05:40:58Z")
I can’t win either one, but it would also be interesting to see whose father was born _most recently_. I bet we have a 13 year old whose\* dad was 16 when he/she was born. Something like 1974? FTR my daddy was born in 1951. \*\* Am I using “whose” correctly here or should it be “who’s”?\* ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/25 "2005-01-05T09:58:46Z")
My mother was born 10 February 1934. So, 45 years, four weeks difference between my parents. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![truthbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@truthbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthbot)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/26 "2005-01-05T14:24:34Z")
**Sir Rhosis** , I don’t know if it’s the Golden Liver Spot or what, but you win! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/27 "2005-01-05T16:49:06Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My mother was born 10 February 1934. So, 45 years, four weeks difference between my parents. Wow. :bows down: I had some quality numbers, but even I can’t compete with that… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/28 "2005-01-05T16:50:34Z")
Actually, SR, did your father go to college, and if so, did you go to the same one? That’s the only other thing I can offer–longest span between a single generation graduating from the same alma mater: 63 years. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/29 "2005-01-05T17:22:28Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My mother was born 10 February 1934. So, 45 years, four weeks difference between my parents. > > Sir Rhosis Sir Rhosis, that is very cool. Did you have any half siblings that were 50 years older than you? Was the marriage to your dad a first for both your parents? WHAT is the SCOOOP? We gots to know! ---
**Author:** ![jk1245](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/30 "2005-01-05T17:36:41Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My mother was born 10 February 1934. So, 45 years, four weeks difference between my parents. > > Sir Rhosis Wow! I can only hope to marry a 20 year old when I’m 65! Probably be dead of a heart attack the day after the wedding, but I’d be the happiest corpse ever. As for the contest, no chance here. My dad was born in '36. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/31 "2005-01-05T17:46:21Z")
> [@Sir Rhosis](#): > > My pop was born on 12 January 1889. Beat that, anybody! Hell, one of my maternal great-grandmothers was born 9 years later than that. My mom and dad were born in 1949, when your dad was already 60 years old. I was born in 1968. ---
**Author:** ![lel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8797f3/32.png) [@lel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lel)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/32 "2005-01-05T20:41:23Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Sir Rhosis, that is very cool. Did you have any half siblings that were 50 years older than you? Was the marriage to your dad a first for both your parents? WHAT is the SCOOOP? We gots to know! My case isn’t quite that diverse, but I have a half-brother who’s 39 years older than I am. He was older than my mother. And for that matter, my father is about 18 months younger than my maternal grandparents. I was also born an aunt, and my oldest (half-)niece is about ten years older than I am. I had great-nieces & great-nephews (is that the word for them?) before I was 18. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/33 "2005-01-05T20:50:25Z")
Let’s see, some questions to answer. It was the first marriage for my mother. My dad was married at least three times–save for my mother he kept outliving his wives. He did not have children until he was 36. My oldest half-sibling was born in 1924. I had seven or eight half-siblings, currently only three are living. My oldest living half-brother will be 74 in April. He has great-grandkids, so that would make me a Great-Great Uncle. Another half-brother is 67. My sole surviving half-sister is 65. My father was a WWI veteran. My mother still draws his military disability pension (one eardrum was destroyed by a shell-fire concussion). My oldest niece is 50 or 51. Oldest nephew is in his mid-50s. My father was a simple farmer/bricklayer/jack of all trades; no educaion higher than grade school (mom only went to 4th grade herself), though my mom says he read well (Zane Grey and the Bible). My brother has a chair and a shelf he made in the 1940s that are still sturdy. I have my father’s WWI Army Discharge–barely hanging together. It’s a pre-printed form, but all data is hand-written. I have my father’s original SS card, issued for the first time to him in 1936. Dad’s dad was born in 1863, died in 1948. Dad’s mom was born in 1853, not sure when she died. I looked it up once–I think either Harrison or Cleveland was President when he was born. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/34 "2005-01-06T01:42:49Z")
> [@Eleusis](#): > > I can’t win either one, but it would also be interesting to see whose father was born _most recently_. I bet we have a 13 year old whose\* dad was 16 when he/she was born. Something like 1974? My father was born in 1961. My mother in 1965. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/35 "2005-01-06T01:47:02Z")
^^^Not trying to be snobbish, but why don’t you start a “youngest parents” thread, so that it doesn’t get buried in here. I’d like to see the responses it would draw. I could symbolically meet the poster with the “child-parents.” Best, Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/36 "2005-01-06T01:48:16Z")
1889 is pretty damned impressive, but I’ve heard there are some sons of Civil War veterans that are still around. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/37 "2005-01-06T01:51:26Z")
I’m sure there are, just not posting on the SDMB (that I know of). 😃 Heck, there were Civil War veterans alive into the 1950s, right? Especially as some of the “drummer boys” got counted as regular soldiers. Sir Rhosis ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/38 "2005-01-06T05:47:27Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > I’m just waiting for David Simmons to come in. He’s in his 80s, if I recall correctly. > > I got nothin’. My step-dad was born in 1941, and bio-dad in 1944. I lose this one by a nose. My father and his twin brother were born 4 July 1889. A couple of Yankee Doodle Dandy’s. My mother was born in 1896 and lived to be 92. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/39 "2005-01-06T05:49:27Z")
And for Chrissake that should be “Dandies” not “Dandy’s.” Please help me, I think I’m losing it. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2005, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973/40 "2005-01-06T11:01:15Z")
[QUOTE=Rufus Xavier] Hell, one of my maternal great-grandmothers was born 9 years later than that. QUOTE] Both my grandmothers were born in the 1900’s-1910’s, IIRC - I know they were both in their 80s when they died, one in 1995 and one in 1998. I don’t know about my grandfathers, as they both died before I was born. My step-grandfather (paternal)…I’m not sure about when he was born either, but I’m fairly certain that it was after 1900. So I definitely lose on the oldest father thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-father-can-beat-up-your-fathers-birthday-oldest-father-poll/282973.md?page=1)