Saturday, August 6, 2016

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Male Ancestors' Age at Death

Once again I'm accepting Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission, this time "Male Ancestors Age at Death", as follows:
  1. Review your Pedigree Chart (either on paper or in your genealogy management software program) and determine the age at death of your Male ancestors back at least five generations (and more if you want to).
  2. Tell us the lifespan years for each of these ancestors.  Which of your male ancestors in this group lived the longest?  Which lived the shortest? 
Like Randy, I used Ahnentafel numbers to identify my male ancestors:

Father:
2. Roger Marchant Kirk (1919-1979) – 60 years

Grandfathers:
4. Chester Frank Kirk (1857-1939) – 81 years
6. William George Murphy (1886-1946) – 60 years

Great-Grandfathers:

8. Silas Kirk (1827-1909) – 82 years (exactly – he died on his birthday)
10. Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon (1847-1911) – 64 years
12. Dominic Murphy (1854-1914) – 59 years
14. Peter Louis Rabideau (1870-1946) – 76 years

2nd Great-Grandfathers:

16. Jabez Bradbury Kirkpatrick (1800-1884) – 83 years
18. Simon Sukeforth (ca 1813-1874) – abt 61 years
20. Isaac Hodsdon (1812-1890) – 77 years
22. Nahum Alonzo Rand (1813-1884) – 70 years
24. William Murphy (1830-1909) – 78 years
26. Neil McIntyre (1814-bet 1881 and 1891) – >67 years
28. Louis Rabideau (1850-aft 1913) – >63 years
30. Uriah Sawyer Woodward (1847-1881) – 33 years

3rd Great-Grandfathers:

32. John Kirkpatrick 2d (1773-1825) – 52 years
34. Edward Faulkner – unknown
36. Robert Sukeforth (ca 1780-88 - bet 1860 and 1870) – >72 years
38. William Miller (est 1794-aft 1837) – >43 years
40. Jacob Hodsdon (1787-1879) – 91 years
42. Guy Green (1778-1850) – 72 years
44. Joshua Rand (1779-1852) – 73 years
46. Enoch Brister (ca 1770-1853) – abt 83 years
48. Michael Murphy (ca 1800-bet 1861-81) – >61 years
50. William McDonald – unknown
52. Angus McIntyre (est 1785-bet 1840 and 1851) – >55 years
54. Alexander McLellan (ca 1786-1867) – abt 81 years
56. Louis Robidas (ca 1832-1921) – abt 89 years
58. Unknown
60. Royal Woodward (ca 1802-08 - 1879) – >71 years
62. Samuel Orcutt Washburn (1798-1850) – 51 years

My third great-grandfathers list is a little more complete than the one for their wives: there's only one I don't have a name for, and two more for whom I have a name but no dates.

For those I have at least reasonably good dates for, the longest-lived appears to be 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Hodsdon, at 91 years. The shortest-lived was 2nd great-grandfather Uriah Sawyer Woodward, who died at 33, leaving his wife, Mary (Washburn) (Yates) Woodward, a widow for the second time.

The average age at death for the 28 male ancestors for whom I have data is about 68, with a range of 33-91. Leaving out Uriah Woodward's atypical early death brings the average for the remaining 27 men to over 69; also leaving out William Miller's possible death by 43 raises the average to over 70. Averages and ranges by generation:
  1. Father: 60 years.
  2. Grandfathers: average 70.5 years (60-81).
  3. Great-grandfathers: average about 70 years (59-82).
  4. Second great-grandfathers: average 66.5 years (33-83). Omitting Uriah, the average for the other seven is about 71 years.
  5. Third great-grandfathers (13 out of 16): average about 69 years (43-91). Again, omitting William Miller, the average for the remaining 12 is nearly 71.
Clearly my female ancestors were a much more robust bunch than their mates, with every generation of women averaging 3-6 years more than the men!

1 comment:

Mary Rohrer Dexter said...

You make a valid point in that we all seem to find our male ancestors more consistently than our female ones. Which gives us more accurate averages in the male study verses the female one. I had not thought of that.