Ages of my 3rd Great-Grandparents

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun
Brown/Montran Research
Roberts/Barnes Research

By Don Taylor

Randy Seaver, of Genea-Musings, suggested taking a look at our third great-grandparents lifespan.  When were they born; how long did they live? Randy’s suggestions often make me think about my tree and point out where I have holes or other problems in my genealogical research, so I thought I’d give it a try.  Randy’s suggestion this time was no different.

Of my 32 great-grandparents, I only have 23 named in my database. Two are women for whom I only know their married surname.   Only 13 of them, do I have birth and death dates. I have much more work to do to fill in the blanks.

NEW & on my “Want” list.

My earliest born 3^rd Great’ was John Calvin Roberts, born 3 March 1795; the most recent born was Andrew Haley born 1837. I was surprised there were 42 years between two ancestors in the same generation.

The youngest to die that I know about was Joel Cruff Taft who died at the age of 48. Barney Daney Brown was born about 1814 and died sometime between 1860 and 1870 could have died at age 46, age 56 or any age in between.

My longest living 3^rd great-grandparent was William Sanford who lived to 92. However, I must mention that my great-grandmother Mary (Manning) Brown lived to be 105.

The average age at death for my 3^rd great-grandparents was 70.6 years old.

My Ancestors for whom I know their birth and death dates include:

As is so often the case with Randy’s exercises, Randy reminds me how much more genealogical work I still need to do. I’d love to learn the birthdates and death dates of all my 3^rd great-grandparents. Then again, my genealogical goal is not to fill in the blanks; instead, my goal is to get to know my ancestors, to try to understand them, and to appreciate their lives.