Put your thinking caps on!!!

Post by **HeatherH** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 3:09 am

Hello Everyone,
Have you ever looked at your family tree? All those names and dates? I mean really Looked?
How many of you can name....
#1 The longest Marriage?
#2 The oldest Groom or Bride?
#3 The largest age gap between bride and groom?
#4 The most Marriages?
#5a The most offspring with 1 partner?
#5b From Multiple Marriages?
Go on have a look. See what those numbers really mean.
I have to admit I'm not sure I know all the answers to these questions from my own tree. But I am very curious to find out.
HeatherH

Post by **marilyn morning** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:13 am

Heather wrote

#1 The longest Marriage?
#2 The oldest Groom or Bride?
#3 The largest age gap between bride and groom?
#4 The most Marriages?
#5a The most offspring with 1 partner?
#5b From Multiple Marriages?

Hi Heather,

Oh just in time for Valentine's Day

Great Post Heather! Here's my reply

1. My Aunt Pat & Uncle Manny, been married for 61 years now. They are also brother and sister to my mother and father.

2. My g gf, John Morning's second marriage at 61 yrs old.

3. My sister and her husband, 25 year age difference....She likes younger men..

Actually it was he who robbed the cradle

4. My sister again, married three times

5a. That would be my gg gm, Maggie Morning bless her for having 14 children

5b. Has to be my sister again (see # 3 & #4

)

Regards
Marilyn

Post by **paddyscar** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:29 am

Well that's a different take on all those records we have!

I bet we'll see some very interesting replies on all things matrimonial, on this one!

Currie · Post by **Currie** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 6:46 am

#3. In 1877 the wife of 62 year old Robert the Innkeeper from Windsor, NSW, fell down the stairs. Five weeks later Robert married my 23 year old G. G. Aunt Mary. There was no funeral, I guess they were saving up for the wedding.

I can’t think of anything else particularly interesting.

Alan

Post by **SarahND** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 10:48 am

Hi Heather,
Thanks for finally getting me to sit down and figure out how to get all these statistics from the find feature of my genealogy program! Amazing how much one can find at the click of a button

#1 The longest Marriage?
My parents, just short of 62 years

#2 The oldest Groom or Bride?
74, see below at age gap #3

#3 The largest age gap between bride and groom?
For blood relatives, my GG grandfather Silas Osburn married for the second time at age 59 to a woman age 26, so a 33 year gap.
Not a blood relative, but I just discovered (thanks to the 1911 census release) that the husband of my half first cousin three times removed

was married for the third time when he was 74, to a woman aged 36, so a 38 year age gap

Still, doesn't beat Alan's GG Aunt

#4 The most Marriages?
Can't get more than 3 in my family

#5a The most offspring with 1 partner?
Thomas Kinne and his wife Martha (poor woman didn't even get a surname in spite of all she went through...), my 7G grandparents had 14 children

Perhaps better documented are these:
Lt Abel Wright and his wife Martha Kitcherel (8G grandparents) had 13 children
Their son Ensign Abel Wright and his wife Rebecca Terry (7G grandparents) also had 13 children

#5b From Multiple Marriages?
Lieut. Joseph Kellogg, my 7G grandfather, had 20 children between his two wives 9 with Joanna and 11 with 7G grandmother Abigail Terry

Closer to the present day, these next two have the most convincing documentation that I have actually seen and noted:

My 3G grandfather Elisha Miller had 17 children with two wives (8 with Lorraine Jackson and 9 with Sarah Elliot, my 3G grandmother)

My 2G grandfather Silas Osburn had 17 children with two wives (12 with my GG grandmother Lucinda Gunn and 5 with Mary M. Wells)

Cheers,
Sarah

grannysrock · Post by **grannysrock** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:08 am

#1 The longest Marriage? this was a surprise , thought it would be my maternal grandparents, but now realised that my gggg grandparents John Wanless and Agnes Litster were married almost 62 years Surprised me how many reached their golden anniversary !

#2 The oldest Groom or Bride? Knew this one, John Adam my gggg grandfather was a few months short of his 70th birthday ( but lopped 5 years off his age to keep it respectable ? )

#3 The largest age gap between bride and groom? Ah John Adam again 48years and 9 months older than Catherine Murtagh

#4 The most Marriages? Cant find anyone in my direct ancestry with more than 2 - one 1st cousin 4 times removed got through at least 4 wives

#5a The most offspring with 1 partner? So far I have 5 couples producing 13 known children . 4 of them from Lesmahagow area , and the other one being ... John Adam and his first wife Barbara.

#5b From Multiple Marriages? Ah definitely John Adam 17 kids between Barbara and Catherine.

How about youngest marriage ? My ggg grandfather James Sime was just fifteen when he wed .

Or children by different fathers whether married or not .... Or just for Alan , the shortest period between death of a spouse and remarriage ?

Sally

garibaldired · Post by **garibaldired** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:26 am

How interesting to look at these figures but I'm afraid it only showed in the main what a short lived crew mine were!

#1 Longest marriage has to be my grandparents' who almost made 40 years.

#2 Oldest groom was my gt grandfather at 60 (though he lied and said he was younger!)

#3 Largest age gap was 20 years (see above). My gt grandmother also lied and said she was older!

#4 Most marriages is 2 in my direct line, though out on a twig I do have a couple of 3's!

#5 Most offspring with one partner is 13 - one of my Scottish gt gt uncles who emigrated to Australia.

#6 Most offspring with multiple partners has to be my gt grandfather again who had 8. The 2 he had with his second wife must have been a surprise as she said she was 45 at the time of their marriage! He died before the second one was born - perhaps it was the shock!

What about highest number of children with different fathers whether married or not? I have a gt gt aunt who had 5 with 4 different fathers. I'm keen to see the Kirk Sessions on her!

This has been quite an eye opener for me as I've realised that a lot of my direct line did die quite young after having only 1 or 2 children.
I shall see my tree in a new light now.

Thanks Heather!

Best wishes,
Meg

Alcluith · Post by **Alcluith** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 11:54 am

#3 largest gap - Andrew Davidson (56) married Henrietta Molloy(39) 1922. 16 years is not a great gap until he died next year at the ripe old age of 69yrs (actual 29 year gap)

His daughter and her spouse must be a candidate for #2
1973 Beatrice Trench (Davidson) 81 married George William Culter 96

Off the list a bit is strange marriages

1925 Alexander Davidson to Mary Jolly
what makes this so strange is that Alexander is the nephew of William Davidson and Margaret Jolly, Mary is Margaret's sister.
Nephew becomes brother-in-law that day.

Also in the family uncle divorces wife to marry another woman only a year later the other woman's husband marries ex wife??( names held because members of family still living).

Post by **AndrewP** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 12:01 pm

#1 The longest Marriage?
60 years, 7 months and 17 days, between Robert Mercer Danks and Susan Elizabeth Fowler. Married 1906, She died 1967. He died 1968.

#2 The oldest Groom or Bride?
James Tweedie (age 78)

#3 The largest age gap between bride and groom?
James Tweedie (78) married Helen Allardice Orr (36) in 1919. Both were previously widowed. As with most of the ones where there was a significant age gap, she was the housekeeper.

#4 The most Marriages?
Many where it was the third marriage for one of the couple. Coincidentally, these third marriages were for the spouse of the one on my bloodline. It was the first or second marriage for the one on my bloodline.

#5a The most offspring with 1 partner?
14 children to Joseph Downs and Lilias Gilchrist born between 1805 and 1830. They were all named with their ages on their father's 1855 death certificate (including the year and age at death of the one who pre-deceased his father).

#5b From Multiple Marriages?
None as many as given to question 5a above.

All the best,

AndrewP

Maxie · Post by **Maxie** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 4:33 pm

Thanks for a great topic Heather, it's really interesting to see everyone elses respnses. This was something I had thoought about doing but never got around to!

Longest Marriage: I've got a tie here my 3rd great grandparents John McGregor and Ellen Stewart and my 4th great grandparents Bernard McConville and Mary McMahon - both couples married for 52 years. What I found interesting while trying to figure this out was that couple after couple on my tree were married for 41 years!

Oldest bride or groom: James Halley age 69 married Elizabeth White age 59 in 1824, a second marriage for both.

Largest age gap: biggest gap between was 14 years, quite a few had a 10 year gap.

Most marriages: in my direct line the most times someone was married was three. A bit off to the side, one man was married four times.

Most offspring with one partner: in my direct line two couples had 11 children each. However my 4th great grandmother's sister's daughter (1st cousin 5 times removed) Eliza Ellen Stocks had an incredible 16 children!

Most offspring from multiple marriages: well there was a clear winner with this one, Eliza (mentioned above) had a brother Angus Murray Stocks who was married 3 times. He managed to have 22 children in total by two of the wives who had 11 each.

Eliza and Angus' - parents were mormons who left Scotland and England for Utah - i didn't look through all their descendents other wise I would have been here all day as some had several wives at a time!

Maxie