Genealogy Chat

I mentioned to my cousin recently that of my Plested ancestors, none of the men reached the age of 60.from 1800. My uncle was the eldest when he died at 59. He has a son who is over 60, but he would have died years ago if it had not been for modern surgery. His brother died in his 30s. There are two possible exceptions two of mum's cousins. I don't know how old there were but both died before their wives.

When I spoke to my cousin she said that an aunt had told her "Our men always die young." I then checked the ages of my mother's maternal line, the Booms, as I saw on the 1911 that she had borne 8 children, only three of whom were still alive. My grandmother and two of her brothers. Two more brothers had died since the 1901,aged 30 and 22 on the census, neither having married or had children. One other died in 1926, 3 years before his mother, so only one son survived his mother. Looking through the records I can only find 1 other who lived to 60. The Booms, unlike the Plesteds had lots of children and I have not been able to trace through all the sidelines, but my aunt seemed to be correct that "Our men die young." at least in the Plested line.

David,

I'd get some death certs if I were you and see if there any sex-linked conditions like haemophilia that run in your family.

Rose