Genealogy Chat

Sheffield Sue got me thinking...

never mind husbands and wives who died within weeks of each other (I've got a couple of those too) I have a few ladies who were widowed, and didn't remarry, who lived for quite a long time on their own. My record must be my gran, who was widowed in 1935, when she was 50, her husband was 52. She lived another 43 years, died in 1978 aged 93. can anyone beat this?

My great great grandmother Ellen Stowell, was widowed in 1876, 2 months before the birth of her 4th child. She was left to bring up 4 children, the oldest being only 8 when his father died. She didn't remarry and died in 1927, so that makes 52 years a widow! Lynn

Hi Vicky Made me think too. The longest I've come across is my great aunt. She married in June 1918, hubby was killed 11/10/1918 in France and she didn't die until 1979. The real shame was she was childless - and she loved kids. Barbara

The longest-serving widow I've come across was a neighbour in the 1960s. She was widowed as a young woman in WW1 and lived to her mid-90s. She was still going to work every day at 80. J

yes , my great grandmother's ( b 1885) husband died 1929. She died 1977 so she was a widow for 48 years... Lonely life! kim

My Grandfather was a widower for over 60 years, he lived to be 94 and his wife died aged 32

My GGAunt married at 20, gave birth at 21. The following year both her husband and her daughter died of TB. She lived to be 91 and never remarried. As the widow of a railway worker, she received free rail travel for the rest of her life - coo, I bet they were glad when she died! OC

A next door neighbour where we used to live was widowed, like so many others in WW1 and never remarried. She died in 1990, aged 100, so must have been widowed over 70 years.