What do you do when you discover that the mother in your tree had to be 60 when she had her last child?

Question

Back in the late 1800s, when you're doing you're family tree. Impossible right? I thought they didn't even live that long. Do I change the dates?

Answer 1

It is possible. Just not probable. So better check it out thoroughly.

Answer 2

Here's another option:

If the mother's age is correct and you have verified that she was in fact 60 years old when the baby was born, then that baby was probably adopted.  It could be that this was a grandchild, niece/nephew, or even a neighbor's child that they took in and raised as their own.

Answer 3

A lot of records are not always accurate. I would not change anything till I had researched it more. Some census records I have found have had the daughter and mother the same age!! Just keep trying to find out if this is accurate.

Answer 4

It's a common error...especially with online trees. The problem is that people will confuse two women with the same or similar names who lived near each other. I disagree with the idea of entering the name with a notation. I may be a purist, but I don't enter anything that I can't prove beyond a doubt. That would mean that if you have two women mixed up with each other, you might go on to find the wrong parents and grandparents for her. Then you're left doubling back to fix a pretty big error. Instead, look for alternative records, such as church registers, pension records, Railroad Retirement Board registrations, etc and see if there isn't a way of clarifying the situation.

Answer 5

It is not impossible.  When I was working at a hospital, I remember a 58 year old woman giving birth.

However, if you are copying a tree submitted to an online website by someone else.  Don't.  Use the information only as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.  Just because it is online doesn't mean it is right. The trees are subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same info repeatedly by many different subscribers that does not mean it is right because a lot of people copy without verifying.  

Also if you have picked up the age based on census records, there are many errors on them.  The census taker was trying to get a head count and to collect certain data that the government wanted on that particular census. They had no earthly idea that 100-150 years down the line people would be pouring over those censuses trying to find their family histories.

Answer 6

What you see is exactly the reason most of the old timers here are constantly saying..

YOU need documentation, and you need to realize that much of what people submit online, is unreliable.  What you have is someone elses' work, and it clearly is based on someone who didn't pay attention.

Any research needs to have a source for the 'facts'.  When the source is someone else's posted information, you need to review for an ACTUAL record ie census, birth/death certs, so forth.

This tree might be in the right location, but it seems to have picked up a wrong person / fact, along the line. It could be a typo.  Back up, and evaluate what ORIGINAL source they have (if any).  Another problem could be that they used a census, and picked up a grandchild in error as the child.

If you want to post the person/family and details that you have, someone can take a look at what there is.

Answer 7

First, NO, don't change the dates. Include it, with the notation that it APPEARS to be incorrect.

Secondly, most of my ancestors in the 1600s and 1700s lived to their 90s; one lady died on her 100th birthday! (Verified!)

I would say "Impossible", but I am not a doctor. So, include it, but keep searching. I have frequently encountered such things; they always turn out to be incorrect, sometimes neglecting a generation!

Next, you should say "your family tree", not "you're family tree". "Your" denotes possion; [whose tree? YOURS!] "you're" is a contration for "you are" [subject, verb].

Try these:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

http://www.geocities.com/griffith_histor...

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Russian culture goes way back...

See this website:

http://www.ao.net/~fmoeller/rusorig.htm....

I have read about the Tartars; they were a nomadic people who even had their houses on wheels.

As you can see from this article, Russian people come from quite a few ancient tribes.

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ukrainian_l...

And, as to Russian/Viking relationships, see:

http://www.viking.no/e/info-sheets/eston...

For a more thorough analysis, opt for a DNA test. I used www.ancestry.com. It revealed that I have Russian, Ukranian, etc., ancestry.

Answer 8

Most genealogy programs have error checking routines. They will list things out of order (ie, through a mistake, you have someone born or married after they die), and suspicious things; in "Suspicious" are men who marry before age 18, women who marry before age 14, children born out of wedlock or after the mother is 45, people living more than 100 years. (I had someone born in "188", instead of 1888, who died in 1960 at the age of 1,872). You should see if your program has one and run it.

It is almost certainly a mistake. Any child born after the mom is age 45 is highly suspicious. You might have her born 1845 when she should have been born 1854. She might have lied about her age. A census enumerator may have flubbed it.

I'd put in a birth estimate. Most people are within 5 years on the census, if you can find them on 3 or 4.