# Record for most generations living in a family **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 25, 2007, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256 "2007-06-25T00:31:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/61 "2013-04-13T22:09:10Z")
I didn’t realize that I had deleted the family photo of the six living generations in my family. Just in case anyone is interested. . . [Six generations](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/sixgen_zpsc714a525.jpeg.html#/user/badger60/media/sixgen_zpsc714a525.jpeg.html?&_suid=136589090753109371231473359856) in one sitting! ---
**Author:** ![Ms.Pumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@Ms.Pumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms.Pumpkin)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2013, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/62 "2013-04-14T02:48:26Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > I didn’t realize that I had deleted the family photo of the six living generations in my family. Just in case anyone is interested. . . [Six generations](http://s294.photobucket.com/user/badger60/media/sixgen_zpsc714a525.jpeg.html#/user/badger60/media/sixgen_zpsc714a525.jpeg.html?&_suid=136589090753109371231473359856) in one sitting! What a great photo! The expressions on the ladies’ faces - they all seem so delighted. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/63 "2013-06-07T14:51:41Z")
> [@Toni.OD](#): > > I am a direct relation to a seven generation family. Starting with MY Great-great-great- Grandmother Augusta Bunge Pagel. then my Great- great-Grandmother Sabin, My Great Grandmother Wentland My Grandma Wolter my unt Deb My cousin Lori and my second cousin Christopher.Grandmothers Pagel, Sabin, and Wentland have since passed away, They all lived in Wisconsin at the time. My Oma “Augusta” was 100 years 2 monthes and 3 days older than myself. I have since named my daughter after her and Christopher the last in the line has since had a child of his own. As I know my family still owns the record for most generations living at one time I believe that record is for the “youngest person” to be the oldest living of 7 generations. Assuming what I’ve read is correct, Augusta Bunge was 109 when her great, great, great, great grandson was born. I’m betting that the record for most 7th generation children (great, great, great, great grandchildren) would go to Elizabeth Bolden, a 116 year old woman who was the oldest living person in the world at the time upon her death in 2006. She was born in 1890 and had 75, 7th generation children, according to her obituary in the New York Times, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/obituaries/12bolden.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/obituaries/12bolden.html?_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/64 "2013-06-08T01:07:12Z")
This is now a ninth generation zombie thread. ---
**Author:** ![Toni.OD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Toni.OD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toni.OD)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/65 "2013-08-10T12:51:10Z")
No, that is still an eighth zombie thread, if I am understanding this zombie thread correctly. She had more decendants in number, however the line, as far as I read in the artical, is at seven generations living. Kuddos to her for so many. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/66 "2013-08-10T15:19:29Z")
My calculations are that it’s a 13-generation thread: 1st: 06-24-2007, 08:31 PM – 06-28-2007, 12:39 AM 2nd: 10-24-2010, 01:11 AM – 10-24-2010, 05:13 PM 3rd: 12-30-2010, 08:36 PM 4th: 01-22-2011, 12:26 PM 5th: 03-11-2011, 11:38 PM – 03-12-2011, 10:05 AM 6th: 09-18-2011, 12:21 PM – 09-20-2011, 09:21 PM 7th: 11-02-2011, 09:48 PM – 11-02-2011, 10:14 PM 8th: 02-07-2012, 04:32 PM 9th: 05-10-2012, 09:50 PM – 05-10-2012, 10:38 PM 10th: 11-29-2012, 07:09 AM – 11-29-2012, 06:09 PM 11th: 04-12-2013, 02:27 PM – 04-13-2013, 10:48 PM 12th: 06-07-2013, 10:51 AM – 06-07-2013, 09:07 PM 13th: 08-10-2013, 08:51 AM ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/67 "2013-08-10T18:03:46Z")
Wendell Wagner, I love how you have been keeping an eye on this thread so diligently every time it gets resurrected. In a way, you yourself have lived through many, many generations. What goes through your head every time you see this thread bumped? Are you subscribed to it and get alerts each time it happens? What can you tell me about the good ol’ days of this thread way back when it first started in 2007. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/68 "2013-08-10T19:17:08Z")
Let’s try to get him to try to determine how many generations “We Have Pigeon Eggs” is. That oughta be fun.😛 ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/69 "2013-08-10T21:58:19Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Let’s try to get him to try to determine how many generations “We Have Pigeon Eggs” is. That oughta be fun.😛 I defined (rather liberally) that a thread was “resurrected” when it went more than 2 weeks without a post. With that in mind, I whipped up a spreadsheet and found the following number of generations of that thread, just for your entertainment: 1st Generation: 11/9/2011 10:55 to 12/2/2011 20:29 2nd Generation: 12/28/2011 20:51 to 4/2/2012 14:12 3rd Generation: 5/5/2012 23:13 to 8/10/2012 23:33 4th Generation: 8/24/2012 20:09 to 9/17/2012 11:30 5th Generation: 10/4/2012 22:11 to 10/7/2012 22:30 6th Generation: 11/5/2012 3:03 to 11/6/2012 18:54 7th Generation: 11/25/2012 22:11 to 1/20/2013 5:01 8th Generation: 2/3/2013 20:10 to 5/9/2013 22:51 9th Generation: 5/24/2013 10:23 to present Somewhat surprisingly, if you define zombie as 28 days (4 weeks), you only get 3 generations in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/70 "2013-08-11T00:14:13Z")
Eh. . . another potentially good story spoiled by the facts. . . . ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/71 "2013-08-11T00:43:04Z")
Do ghosts count? Are ghosts similar to zombies? We have it on good authority ([cite](http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/the_kingston_trio/with_her_head_tucked_underneath_her_arm.html)) that the ghost of Anne Boleyn walks, they declare. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/72 "2013-08-11T01:35:49Z")
Do any Dopers have relatives or close acquaintances that span five generations? Four-generations are easy, for example our next-door neighbors include an old woman and a few of her great-grandchildren. But I can’t think of any 5-generation family. (We come close: my wife has a living aunt with two married great-grandchildren in their mid-20’s, but neither has had children yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/73 "2013-08-11T01:46:08Z")
Hang in there, everybody! If Queen Liz lives as long as her Mum did, it could happen. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/74 "2013-08-11T02:00:19Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > A customer at work became a grandmother at 32. She has a kid and a grandkid about the same age. I have heard stories from L&D nurses of plenty of sub 30 grandmothers and plenty of 45-50 year old great - grandparents. ---
**Author:** ![Toni.OD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Toni.OD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toni.OD)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/75 "2013-08-12T00:20:39Z")
Got it Zombie Threads have nothing to do with the topic. Now why couldn’t anybody explain that to me when I first asked? ---
**Author:** ![Toni.OD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Toni.OD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toni.OD)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/76 "2013-08-12T00:34:37Z")
I will post photos of my Families achievement soon. My mother told me she still has the old 1989 copy of the Life magazine with my “Oma” Augusta on the cover. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/77 "2013-08-12T01:29:26Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Do any Dopers have relatives or close acquaintances that span five generations? Four-generations are easy, for example our next-door neighbors include an old woman and a few of her great-grandchildren. But I can’t think of any 5-generation family. (We come close: my wife has a living aunt with two married great-grandchildren in their mid-20’s, but neither has had children yet.) I do. My grandmother had my mother in her mid-20s, in 1946. My older sister was born 20 years later. Her second child and first daughter came along twenty years after that, and she had her first (and only) daughter 17 years later. My great-grandmother is alive at 90 and her only great-great grandchild is four. I think I mentioned this earlier in the thread, but that’s not the most interesting thing about those generations. My grandmother had twelve children over twenty years. My mom is number three. Her youngest sister, born when her mother was well over 40, had her own children late in life. As a result, my grandmother’s last grandchild (so far!) was born just (I think) two years before her first great-great-grandchild. So that’s two-generation offset–first cousins twice removed–that are within a couple years in age. It’s a whole generation more than the much more common “Uncle younger than his nephew” thing. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/78 "2013-08-12T01:43:51Z")
Aside from my own family’s contribution that I’ve mentioned. . . . My grandmother was part of a five-generation family, sorta, just not five lineal generations. Her daughter that would have been generation #2 in that line had died, although her other children were still alive. And I do have a friend who is #3 in a five lineal generation family. > [@Toni.OD](#): > > Got it Zombie Threads have nothing to do with the topic. Now why couldn’t anybody explain that to me when I first asked? I wouldn’t have said anything because, with all due respect, I would have assumed you to be a drive-by poster. Register to make a comment or two, then never returning. So no point in getting someone up to speed if they were never going to return to read it. That’s the way a lot of threads get bumped. In this case, I would have been wrong. :o ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/79 "2013-08-12T02:09:22Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > :o I feel we should also explain that this is the smiley for “embarrassment” even though it looks bored, or, possibly about to give oral sex. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256/80 "2013-08-12T02:09:34Z")
> [@MandaJo](#): > > … So that’s two-generation offset–first cousins twice removed–that are within a couple years in age. It’s a whole generation more than the much more common “Uncle younger than his nephew” thing. My wife is the youngest daughter of a youngest daughter, so several years younger than the 3rd-generation I mentioned earlier. But the old woman neighbor I mentioned earlier can outdo that, sort of. She has a daughter-in-law who has a grandchild from a previous marriage who is about the same age as the old woman’s youngest nephew. They were playmates but technically one was the other’s (step) great-uncle! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/record-for-most-generations-living-in-a-family/409256.md?page=5)